What If?
by mahikawuf
Summary: What If? What if there was another reason Bella was different? What if that meant Edward and Bella's relationship was more "normal"? Rated M for language amongst other things LOL. Will upload edited chapters soon!
1. The Beginning, Prologue

A/N – Don't own and didn't create the world of Twilight. Just wanted to take everyone out for some exercise.

I am just writing this for myself mostly to see if I can G. Comment or not, up to you. Please be kind, 1st attempt at writing.

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**What if? - **Prologue

Forks, Washington

Renee couldn't believe it had come to this. She was packing, getting ready to leave Forks and Charlie, taking their 4-year-old daughter with her to Arizona. She still loved him, but just couldn't stay in Washington any longer and Charlie just wouldn't leave.

"I have to get Bella away from here, Charlie. I just can't take the risk."

Charlie turned to her, his eyes glittering with unshed tears. "But Renee, there is no guarantee that it will happen. It hasn't in generations!"

"I just can't, Charlie", Renee turns away, sobbing. "I still love you but I can't risk our daughter."

She grabbed the bags off the bed and headed to the bedroom door. Taking Bella by the hand, she struggled to juggle everything.

"Renee, I'll take Bella. Let me hold her one more time." he paused, "Please"

Renee let go of Bella's hand and let Charlie pick her up into his arms. She watched as Charlie hugged their daughter close to his chest and nuzzled her neck with his day old stubble. Bella giggled as his whiskers tickled her neck.

"Daddy, no! Tickles!" she squealed.

Renee's eyes filled with tears but she resolutely turned back towards the door and headed down the stairs to the front door. She put their bags down and turned to Charlie.

"Can you grab her coat for me, Charlie? Come on, Bella. Time to go for a car ride"

Charlie put Bella down and went to the closet to grab the coats. Renee put Bella's coat on and grabbed her hand. Charlie grabbed the bags and followed them out to the car.

They didn't say anything as Renee got Bella settled into her car seat and got into the driver's seat.

Charlie leaned down into the window to try one more time. "Renee, please re-consider! I love you and Bella so much!"

Renee started the car. "I'm sorry, Charlie! I just can't", she said in a whisper. She put the car in reverse and started to back out of the driveway.

Charlie walked down the driveway with the car and stood there watching as it drove his beloved family out of his life.

Renee took one more look in the rear-view mirror to see Charlie standing in the road at the end of their driveway with his head bowed.

Tears streamed down her face as she kept driving. "I'm sorry" she whispers.


	2. Changing, Chapter One

A/N – Don't own and didn't create the world of Twilight. Just taking the characters out to play.

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What If? - Chapter One

Bella's POV

Phoenix Arizona, 13 years later

I was laying on my bed with my I-pod blaring in my ears trying to block out the thoughts running through my head. I had tried everything from Metallica to Sam Bradley to The Three Tenors and everything in between. Nothing was stopping my brain from going over and over what had been happening to me lately.

I didn't really want to talk to my mother but I was going to have to bite the bullet and just do it. And I especially didn't want to have such a serious talk right before Christmas.

I had to talk to her about what had been going on. I had never felt "right" but lately it had been getting worse and worse. It wasn't something I felt comfortable talking to anyone about even though my mom should have been the one person that I could. We had always been able to talk to each other about anything. She had been more like my best friend while growing up than my mother. Technologically and otherwise challenged, I had always sort of been the "parent" in our relationship. She seemed to have the attention span of a gnat and was always flitting from one interest to another. Forgetting to pay bills or get groceries for the house were just a couple of things that sometimes were beyond her scope.

I had always felt out of place amongst the other kids as I grew up. None of the boys really seemed to be interested in me as I went through high school. I was pretty clumsy and plain looking. Brown hair, brown eyes. Nothing really special or spectacular to grab any guy's attention. Lately however, I was really wanting to attract a boy's attention where I never had before. I had always been pretty happy with just my mom, my music and my book collection.

I didn't know why but I had also been thinking about my dad, Charlie, a lot lately. I hated Forks, Washington, where he lived. It was cold and wet. I really hated cold and wet. Why was I continuously thinking about the place? The trees, the mountains and the meadows, places that I had only seen a few times throughout my childhood since my mom had left my dad when I was only 4 years old. I went back at first for very short visits in the summer but my mom was always so stressed while I was gone that my dad decided he would just take his vacation time and come to Arizona instead. I always felt that my dad still loved mom. He never said anything but the look in his eyes spoke volumes whenever I caught him looking at her.

My mom was with Phil now, who seemed to make her really happy even if he was slightly younger than she was. I was glad to see her with someone after so many years alone. Someone that could look after her since I would be gone soon. I was already 17 and wouldn't be home for much longer.

How was I going to ask my mom whether she would let me go to Forks and stay with Charlie for Christmas break. Maybe even permanently. It was almost like an obsession these last few weeks to go there.

"Bella!" my mom yelled from downstairs. Pretty bad when I could actually hear her over my tunes.

I pulled out my earplugs and yelled back " Be right there, Mom!"

I had left a note on the refrigerator for mom letting her know where I was and that I really needed to talk to her when she got in. I got up from the bed, sighed and headed downstairs.

Mom was in the kitchen putting the groceries away when I found her. She looked over at me with a quizzical look.

"What's up, Bella?" she inquired with an almost nervous edge to her voice.

RPOV

I waited anxiously for Bella to come downstairs. I was almost sure that I knew what she wanted to talk about. I knew it from the moment I saw the note she had left on the fridge door.

Over the years, Bella had not been a "normal" girl. The thing I feared the most when I left her father Charlie 13 years ago was really going to happen. Tearing my family apart all those years go had done nothing to prevent it. I wasn't sure if I could explain to Bella what was happening to her or even answer the questions I was sure she had.

Bella came around the corner of the hallway into the kitchen and stopped. She just looked at me for a few minutes before beginning to speak.

"Mom, could we go sit in the living room or something?" she asked.

My hands started shaking and I put them behind my back as I followed Bella into our living room. She sat down on the couch and I took a seat beside her. I put my hands in my lap, clenching them tightly together to try and hide the fact that they were trembling.

"Mom .. " Bella started not looking at me.

I interrupted. "Bella, before you say anything. I think I know what this is about."

Bella looked up, startled. Her eyes met mine and I could see the surprise and apprehension in her.

"Mom? What do you mean that you know what this is about? I'm not sure I even know what its about" she said with a little laugh.

I just sat there and stared at my beautiful daughter, trying to think of how I was going to tell her about our family history in a way that wouldn't push her over the edge. I could see she was already confused.

BPOV

I think I was more surprised than anything when my mom announced that she knew what I needed to talk to her about. How the hell could she know?!? What the hell was going on?

"Mom?" I looked at her intensely, trying to meet her eyes. "What do you mean? What is going on with me?"

I had always been really clumsy all throughout my childhood. Stumbling over my own feet and falling down. If there was an accident to be had, it would happen to me. It was a running joke amongst everyone I knew.

I always used to just heal like any normal person with bruises and cuts taking a few weeks to heal. Lately, however, my scrapes and injuries seemed to be healing at an accelerated rate. Could my mom know why? Why wouldn't she tell me? She must have noticed this weird occurrence in the last few months? What the hell was wrong with me? Am I a mutant or something? Have I always been like this? What the hell was going on?

Renee just stared at me for a few moments. I could almost see her mind reeling, trying to figure out what she was going to say. The expression on her face was almost fearful. Her eyes had tears in them as she started to speak.

"Bella, I was really hoping this would never come up. it's the very reason we left Forks and came to Arizona. The reason that we left your father because he couldn't leave Forks permanently. This story starts a long time ago. We have never really spoken about our family genealogy. Being the bookworm that you are, I am really surprised you never wondered at your relatives like my or your dad's parents and grandparents."

I just sat there staring at my mom. What the hell was she talking about? What did genealogy have to do with what was going on with me? What did this have to do with why we left Forks when I was 4? This was really getting bizarre!

"Mom?" I said, my voice slightly shaking. "Am I really sick or something? Is that why you never told me? Am I going to die?"

My body started to shake. I just sat there staring at her in horror.

RPOV

I could see my silence was starting to terrify Bella so I took her hands in mine and squeezed them firmly.

"Oh Bella! No! You are not sick or dying!" I exclaimed. "I am so sorry if I'm scaring you. I'm just not quite sure how to tell you. I should have explained a long time ago but I was burying my head in the sand hoping I'd never have to."

I sighed and took a deep breathe to calm myself.

"This story starts generations ago. I am not sure if you father has ever told you about the Quiluete Legends?"

Bella looked at me quizzically and shook her head.

"Well, there is a legend about the Quiluete people are actually descended from wolves"

Bella started, "What? Wolves? That's impossible!"

"Bella, are you going to interrupt me or can I just get this over with?"

"Go ahead, Mom. I'll be quiet."

"Okay." I took a deep breathe, looked away from Bella and began to talk, "So, the legend goes that the tribe is descended from wolves, like I said. This means that all Quiluete people have the possibility of becoming shape-shifters and because the totem animal of the tribe is the wolf, those that have the gene, turn into wolves. Their duty is to protect the tribe from outsiders who are possibly dangerous. Both your father and I are descended from the tribe although it was generations ago in our lineage. It doesn't happen often that the gene shows up in descendants so far away from the tribe, but it does happen. The symptoms are what I have been seeing in you for the last few months. The slightly higher than normal temperature and the ability to heal quickly. Don't think I haven't noticed that your normal scrapes and bruises have been disappearing quicker than they usually do."

"Throughout the generations in both of our families, it was evident that the recessive shape-shifting gene seemed to only become active if the child stayed in the vicinity of Forks. Children whose parents had left the area never seemed to change when they are about 16 years of age or so. This is the reason that you and I left Forks when you were 4 years old. I thought you would be like all the others and the gene wouldn't activate as long as I got you away from there. Maybe it did because I just couldn't make myself keep you away from your father when you were still young. I was so happy when he finally agreed to spend his vacation time here in Arizona instead of me having to take you back there. But maybe it was too late by then. The damage was already done."

I looked up to see Bella's face and saw she was staring at me, stunned.


	3. Monsters?, Chapter Two

A/N – Don't own and didn't create the world of Twilight. Just taking the characters out to play.

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What If? - Chapter Two

Bella's POV

I heard every word that came out of my mother's mouth, but I just couldn't wrap my brain around what she was saying. Wolves? Shape-shifters? What the fuck? What the hell am I? Why had I never heard anything about this before?

I just stared at my mom with my mouth gaping. I probably looked like an idiot. I consciously shut my mouth, swallowed and shook my head.

"Mom? What the hell are you saying? That I'm some kind of MONSTER?!?!" I could tell my face probably had a terrified look but I couldn't help it. Why did this have to happen to me?

"Bella! No! You aren't a monster! Please, I will never think that way and you shouldn't either! It's just a really hard life to be a shape-shifter. I was hoping to spare you the secrecy and dual life you would have to live because of it." She reached across the space between us to take me into her arms.

I buried my face in her shoulder and took a deep breathe. Ok a few deep breathes. I figured it was a good idea since I could feel myself start to hyperventilate. Once I felt I wasn't going to stop breathing or throw up or something equally disgusting, I drew back from my mom. Looking into her eyes, I asked, "So what happens? What do I do now? What is going to happen to me?"

"Well, what do you want to do Bella?" Mom asked me. "You're old enough to make your own decisions. I will support whatever you need to do. Maybe your decisions will be better than the ones I have already made for you/"

I grabbed her hands and squeezed them. "Mom, you did what you felt was right. I'm not mad at you or anything. I just wished you had told me sooner. I've been going crazy the last few months thinking something was seriously wrong with me. You don't even want to know what I was imagining was wrong."

She put her arms around me again and held me tight for a few moments whispering "I'm sorry" over and over.

Mom had given me a lot to think about so I decided to go up to my room. I made my way upstairs and as I entered my room I noticed that my computer was beeping. I had a message on Yahoo Messenger. I had forgotten I had logged on before I got distracted by my thoughts.

I quickly turned the monitor back on to see who was messaging me. It was my online friend Angela. I had met her on Facebook when she sent me a friend request when she noticed that I had my hometown listed as Forks, Washington and she lived there. Even though I had grown up in Arizona from the time I was 4 yrs old, I had always felt somehow connected with Forks. Now I knew why that was.

We had become quite good friends over the last few months of chatting. We seemed to have a lot in common and she was one of the reasons that I was almost willing to go and live with Charlie. I would have at least one friend in the small town.

I got to hear about some of the kids at the school she attended, Mike, Eric, Jessica, Ben and Lauren. She had a major crush on Ben but he didn't seem to notice that she existed. We talked a lot about him.

"Hey Bell! Are you there? Please be there. I really need to talk to you! I have had the most horrendous day!" the message said.

I sat down at the computer and replied, "Hey Angela! What's up?" but I was thinking that there was no way on earth that her day could have been as bad as mine had been.

I figured I might as well check my email while I waited for Angela to respond but didn't even have time to click on the icon before Yahoo blipped.

"Bella! Oh I am so glad you're there!" she IM'd. "Do you have time to talk with me? I can't believe what happened today at school!"

I figured what the hell, I might as well listen to her woes. I couldn't talk about mine but it might help to be there for her.

"Yes, Angela. I have a few minutes to talk. What's up?"

"Well, the Christmas dance is coming up and I finally got up enough courage to talk to Ben. He was so mean Bella! What have I ever done to him?"

"What did he do, Angela?"

"He didn't really DO anything, Bella. He was so cold to me though. I couldn't even ask him what I wanted to."

"Maybe he was having a bad day?" I IM'd back to her. I knew that Angela had a low self-esteem problem. She wasn't really friends with the other kids she'd told me about at her school. Being really shy and smart, she didn't quite fit in with the group. From what she had said about Ben though, I had figured he was different than the other guys there.

"I don't know Bella. I think I am just going to give up on him. If he isn't interested I'm not going to try and force myself on him. I just really like him."

I could almost hear her sighing over the messenger. I was sorry to see her so sad. She had been a great online friend when I needed someone to talk to but I didn't have a clue what to say to her to make her feel better. My experience with the opposite sex was pretty much nil and my thoughts were all tied up with the conversation I had just had with my Mom.

"That might be just the idea Angela. Stop paying attention to him and maybe it will get his interest. Just a thought. I hope you feel better but unfortunately I gotta run. I have to start making dinner or we are never going to eat around here."

"Oh ok, Bella. Maybe I will give that a try. Well, thanks for talking with me for a few minutes. TTFN"

"TTYL, Angela"

I signed out of Yahoo so no more messages could come through and I went to lay down on my bed.

I still couldn't believe what I had found out today. Shape-shifters? This is why I had been feeling the way I had? I was turning into one of them? This is the reason behind the yearning to go to Washington?

I rolled over and stared at the phone beside my bed. Should I call Charlie and talk to him? Has Mom already called and told him what was going on? Would he let me even come up there to live with him if I could talk my Mom into it? I sighed. What was I going to do now?

I sighed, rolled off the bed and heading down to the kitchen. Like I said to Angela, if I didn't get dinner started, no one was going to eat tonight. I'll call Charlie after dinner and see what he has to say about all this.


	4. Visions, Chapter Three

What If? - Chapter Three

Forks, Washington

Alice's POV

I opened my eyes to see my whole family gathered around me, all looking at me with a concerned look on their faces.

"What?" I said, looking at each of them in turn, stopping to look directly into Jasper's eyes..

Jasper reached for my hand and gently squeezed. "Uhm Alice, you were completely zoned out for like 20 minutes or so," he whispered. "We were starting to get a little worried. You've never gone completely blank on us before."

I turned to look at my 'brother' Edward questioningly.

"Yeah, Alice. I didn't see anything at all. I was getting a little worried myself. Your mind just went blank. Nothing there. Zilch"

My eyes opened wide as I looked around at my family. They were waiting for me to tell them what had happened but I wasn't sure what I was going to tell them about what I saw. The visions I see aren't set in stone. They change depending on what the person decides.

"Uhm .. Well.. It was actually pretty weird. This vision kept blipping in and out .. Like a TV station trying to focus in on a signal but having problems zeroing in."

Carlisle was starting to look concerned. Probably wondering if there was something wrong with me. I looked over at him and smiled reassuringly.

"Its ok Carlise. It isn't me. Its something to do with the girl I saw in the vision. I'm not sure what is different about her but there is definitely something."

"Alice, this has never happened before. I am really quite concerned that you were literally gone for that long a period of time." Carlise exchanged a look with Edward. "You're sure there was nothing you could hear in her mind?"

Edward shook his head. "Absolutely nothing."

Wow, I thought, everyone was really worried. It hadn't felt that long when I was seeing the vision. I just saw a young girl with brown hair and brown eyes laying on her bed with an I-pod on. Then the vision changed to the girl and an older woman sitting in a living room talking very seriously. I saw the brief look of horror on the girl's face and the quick way the older lady comforted her. The girl got up and headed out of the room and that is when my vision stopped. It was really strange how I couldn't really get a clear picture of what the vision meant. It was true that the visions weren't set in stone but they were usually like watching a segment from a TV show but this was like a scratched DVD where it skipped and stopped sporadically.

Edward's Point of View

Ok, now that totally f*cking freaked me out. No matter how many times I wished that I could block out my family members thoughts on a deeper level, I was totally shocked when Alice's mind just went blank. It was like she had been wiped off the face of the earth.

Why would this vision of a girl completely take out Alice's mind from the constant menagerie that run through my head? Alice says this girl is different. How? What could make this human any different than the millions of others in the world? And why was Alice getting visions of someone she hadn't even met before. Now THAT was just f*cking weird!

"Alice, have you ever seen the people in your vision before?"

Alice looked at me with a surprised look in her eyes, "uh, actually come to think of it, I didn't recognize either one of them. I also remember seeing bright sun coming in through the windows of one of the rooms I saw them in."

I looked at her for a few minutes, "well, I guess they aren't in this area unless we're going to get some sun in the middle of December."

Since there wasn't going to be a quick way to solve the mystery of the brown eyed girl in Alice's weird vision, the family went their separate ways for the evening. I decided to hide out in my room and listen to my tunes. I had almost every CD ever made of every band that I even took the slightest likening to. Then I discovered I-tunes and had been spending tons of money downloading everything I could get my hands on. I still hadn't downloaded the latest Marcus Foster EP, so I'd would do that tonight along with some Bobby Long and a few others.

I got my laptop fired up and opened the I-tunes program. it's a good thing the family was filthy rich with all the money I was spending. I lay on my futon while the laptop downloaded the songs I selected and I found my mind wandering to the vision I saw through Alice's mind earlier. The girl was kinda pretty but didn't seem to have any self confidence. I shrugged. Oh well, its not like I am ever going to meet her.

Carlisle's POV

"The incident with Alice tonight is quite concerning, Esme. What do you make of it?"

I turned to see my wife looking out the window of my study with a frown on her face. She turned and slowly walked over to me.

Her hand automatically went to play with her hair, like she always does when deep in thought.

"I don't know, Carlisle. I was really scared when Edward couldn't even here a single thought from her for that length of time. Who is this girl in her vision? Why is Alice seeing her when she has never even met her? What role is this girl going to play in our lives?"

"I don't know, dear. I am as worried about the implications as you are."

As long as we had been together as a family, we have never had this situation come up before. Alice had always only seen visions of humans or vampires that she was acquainted with, never with a complete stranger. I couldn't decide if she was predicted some kind of danger to our family or if this was a random vision brought to her for who knows what reason.

"I guess we are going to have to wait and see what happens. Unless Alice gets another vision about this girl, there is no need to panic about something that may or may not happen."

Esme sighed. I stood up from my desk chair and reached for her. I embraced her with all the love I have felt for her for the many years that we had been together. I still couldn't believe this wonderful loving woman was mine.

She hugged me back, sighed again and left the room.


	5. Decisions, Chapter Four

A/N – Don't own and didn't create the world of Twilight. Just taking the characters out to play.

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What If? - Chapter Four

Bella's POV

I phoned Charlie the first moment that I had free after the conversation with my mother which didn't end up being until the next day. I spent all night and most of the day trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I knew my mom would be fine with my decision, whatever it turned out to be.

Charlie couldn't believe that my mother had actually broken down and told me the whole story. He was pretty positive that it would be a cold day in hell before she ever discussed the subject. I guess my physical changes weren't something she could just dismiss.

"So Dad," I always thought of him as Charlie in my head but I knew better than to call him that any other time. "I think I should come to Forks for awhile. If that's ok with you."

"Bells, are you sure? I'm sure this has been a lot to take in. Are you sure you don't want to stay with your mom for awhile and sort things out?"

I knew Charlie wasn't really trying to talk me out of coming there. He just wanted to make certain that I knew what I was doing.

"Dad, I think it's a good idea. I don't think I will ever figure out what I am going through in Arizona. Something is drawing me to Forks. I can't really explain it. I just really need to be there."

"Ok Bells. It's fine with me if it's ok with your mom."

Knowing that my mom had given me the freedom to decide what I needed to do to deal with the changes I am going through, I knew she would be ok.

"Alright, well Christmas break starts on Friday so I was thinking of flying down on Saturday. Would it be okay with you if I decide to stay for the rest of my school year? I don't think I am going to find answers over a couple of weeks."

Charlie sounded shocked as he answered me, "Sure Bells. Whatever you want is fine by me. I'll get your room ready for you."

And that was the conversation with Charlie that changed my life forever. There would be no going back if I went to Forks. My life will be irrevocably different.

After my conversation with Charlie, I went to talk to my mom about what I had decided to do. She took it calmly and wasn't very surprised. I think she knew what my decision was going to be before I did.

She arranged for my flight out of Arizona for Saturday morning. I'd be flying into Seattle and then taking a smaller plane into Port Angeles. Charlie would pick me up there. I was just hoping he didn't show up in his work car. It kinda sucked having the Chief of Police of Forks pick you up in the cop car he drove. He had a truck but didn't seem as comfortable driving it.

I finished out the week of school still feeling out of sorts. I didn't have to worry about dealing with goodbyes from my classmates as they didn't really have a lot of time for me anyway. The only high point of the week was letting Angela know that I was coming to Forks to stay for awhile. To say she was excited was to put it mildly.

Saturday morning arrived and I had mixed emotions about leaving. How could I say goodbye to my mom. For so many years it was just us two before she met Phil. Phil was a good guy and I liked him. I was just hoping he could manage taking care of her without my help.

I boarded the plane and the trip was pretty much uneventful. I had a bit of a layover in Seattle so I just sat in the waiting area for my next flight reading my favourite book, Wuthering Heights.

I was so absorbed in the book that I almost missed the call to board.

Finally, I arrived in Port Angeles and saw Charlie as soon as I stepped off the plane. He was in civilian clothes so I took that as a good sign, keeping my fingers crossed that this also meant he drove the truck. Charlie wasn't one to show a lot of emotion but he had a pretty good grin on his face when he saw me.

He grabbed my luggage and we headed out to the car. I sighed with relief when I saw that the truck was parked outside. Of course, he was parked illegally and had the cherry in the dash flashing red. People were giving me funny looks as he put my luggage in the bed of the truck and opened the passenger for me. I shook my head and muttered "Thanks, Dad."

Charlie gave me a sheepish grin. "Sorry Bells, there weren't any parking spots close enough. I figured you would be tired by the time you arrived and I could save you some walking."

"Its okay Dad. Just kinda weird to be getting into a truck with a flashing light on the dash." I gave him a small smile to show I wasn't mad at him.

"Oh Dad, do you remember me telling you about a girl named Angela? Well, she goes to the school I'll be going to and said she would help me get ready to start after the Christmas holidays."

Charlie glanced at me with a small smile, "I'm glad that you'll know someone here, Bells. It will make it a little easier for you."

"Dad, I don't think there is going to be much easy about being here."

He looked at me with a strange look on his face. "I guess you're right Bells. But I am going to invite Billy Black over in a few days to talk to you. He is one of the elders of the Quiluete tribe and might be able to answer some of your questions."

"Sounds good" I told him. Wondering what on earth I was going to ask this person. Of course, the obvious things like what exactly was I becoming. What do I do now?

We got back to the house and Charlie helped me get my bags up to my room. I hadn't been here is many years but I noticed that true to his word, Charlie had fixed up my room. It wasn't a little girls room anymore. He had put in a new bed, a desk which even had a laptop sitting on it. I hadn't expected that although I had a feeling my mom had something to do with that. The only thing left in my room from when I was a child was the rocking chair my mom had purchased when I was a baby.

Charlie had disappeared after putting my bags on the bed. That was one thing about him, he didn't hover. He never had.

I put my clothes away and took my toiletries into the bathroom I would be sharing. Sharing a bathroom with my father was not something I was going to enjoy but we all had to make sacrifices.

It was past dinner time once I got all settled in. I went downstairs to discover Charlie had ordered a pizza. Perfect timing. The delivery boy was just leaving as I got to the bottom of the stairs.

"I didn't figure you would want to eat anything I made, Bells" Charlie said as he shut the door. "Actually, there isn't really anything in the house to make"

I sighed. "Its okay Dad. I'll go shopping for kitchen stuff in the morning. Do you mind if I take over the kitchen duties while I'm here? I did most of the cooking at home."

"Sure. Whatever makes you happy."

We ate the pizza in relative silence. Charlie put on some sort of sports on the TV and got engrossed in it. I decided to hit the sack after I had my fill of dinner. It had been a really long day.


	6. Home and Old Friends, Chapter Five

A/N – Don't own and didn't create the world of Twilight. Just taking the characters out to play.

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What If? - Chapter Five

Charlie's POV

I couldn't believe my daughter was here. Back in Forks where I had wished she'd been for so many years.

I got up and got ready for work almost wishing that I didn't have to go in. Being the Chief of Police however didn't give me the option of staying home whenever I felt like it. I knew I had plenty of time to spend with Bella now. At least I hoped so.

Bella's POV

I slowly woke up after a pretty restless night. The rain kept coming down for most of the night, gradually changing to drizzle at about 3am. I guess I just wasn't used to hearing the sound against the roof of the house. I looked over at the clock on my night stand, it was already 9am.

I made my way to the bathroom and got ready for my day. I figured Charlie was already gone to work and that was verified when I got downstairs. He had left a post-it on the fridge.

"Morning Bells. I left for work at 6am but figured you needed to sleep. There's money on the kitchen table if you still want to go to the store today. If you don't, that's okay too. See you when I get home. Oh, and the keys to the truck are hanging on the key rack for you. Dad"

I smiled slightly when I read the note. Typical Charlie. Short and to the point.

I noticed the answering machine light flashing so I wandered over to check the messages. There were a couple for Charlie and then a voice I didn't recognize came over the machine, "Hi Bella! Uhm, I hope I have the right number. Pretty sure I do cause there is only one Swan in the phone book. Its me .. Oh .. Angela I mean. You wouldn't know who me is. I IM'd my phone number to you if you want to give me a call. In case you didn't get it, it's 555-0825. Give me a call when you want. We could do something if you're interested."

Well, that gave me something to do for the day, shopping and Angela. I grabbed the phone and called her.

"Hey Angela! Just got your message. I actually just got up." I said in response to her breathless hello. It sounded like she'd ran for the phone.

"Hey Bella! I was hoping that was you! Would you like to do something today?" I could hear the excitement in her voice as she answered me.

"I have to do some shopping for the house but after that I 'm free. What did you have in mind, Angela?"

"Well, we could go the mall .. "

"Uhm Angela, I'm not really a mall person"

"Oh! Well, what would you like to do?" she asked.

I thought about it for a few minutes and asked, "Do you want to go see a movie or something? I'll hit the grocery store and then give you a call? How does that sound? You can pick the movie if you want to."

She agreed with that and I hung up the phone.

We had a pretty good time at the show. She didn't pick a girly movie either which kinda surprised me. Once I got home, I made dinner for Charlie and spent the rest of the evening reading while he watched sports on TV.

Even though Charlie had mentioned Billy Black when I arrived, it was a while before I actually got to meet with him since we discovered he was out of town for the rest of the week. He was expected back on the weekend

Eventually the week came to an end, filled with reluctant shopping trips and visits with Angela. I pretty much made dinner for Charlie and I every night since he couldn't cook his way out of a paper bag. I didn't really mind though. It was kind of nice to cook for others and especially for someone that really loved my cooking.

Billy was back on Saturday and Charlie made arrangements for us to go visit him on the reserve that night. Friday night came and I was getting apprehensive about the meeting. Charlie kept trying to reassure me that everything would be fine but how did he know? He wasn't the one that was changing into something other than human.

Saturday came and I was on edge all day. Angela wanted to do something but I was just too jumpy to hang with her. The day was finally over and Charlie came home from work. He could tell by my expression that I was really nervous about the meeting with Billy and tried again to reassure me.

"Dad, can we just go and get this over with?"

"Sure Bells. I don't think Billy will mind if we come out early. He called me at noon to let me know he was back in town a little earlier than anticipated."

"Great Dad! Let me grab my coat."

Charlie decided to take the truck instead of his work car since we were heading out to La Push. He said he didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable out there since each reservation had their own type of police force and he didn't want to step on any toes out there.

It took a good 30 minutes to reach the edge of the reserve and I was getting more and more nervous the closer we got. We pulled up in front of a house that could have used a good coat of paint. It had a front porch and I could see someone sitting there. As we got out of the truck, Charlie waved and shouted out to the person.

"Hey Billy! Hope you don't mind us coming out earlier than planned. Bella was getting a little anxious."

"Hey Charlie! Nope don't mind a bit. Come on in."

He led us into a house that was more spacious inside than it looked from outside. It was an open concept with no walls between the living room, kitchen and dining area. There was a hallway to the left that I assumed let to the bedrooms and bathroom. Just as I looked down the hall, a boy came out of one of the doors, looking down at the floor as he walked towards where we were standing. He was a very good looking Quiluete male with long black hair and a well toned body. He appeared to be around my age. As I got a closer look, my eyes opened wide in surprise.

"Jacob? Is that you?"

The boy snapped his head in my direction. "Bella?" His face lit up with a huge smile. "What are you doing here?"

We hadn't seen each other since we were children, the last time I was actually in Forks visiting Charlie. He looked really good. I blushed slightly at the thoughts that popped into my head. There was almost something about him that drew me to him.

"Uhm. We're here to see your dad actually."

"Oh My God! You're the girl that has the gene? Holy hell! I didn't think you would be anywhere near that lineage!" Jacob's face would have been funny in any other situation but right now I just looked at him with complete shock.

"You know?" I turned to Billy and Charlie, my anger beginning to rise. "Who the hell else have you two told about this!?!? I don't exactly want the whole fucking town to know what is going on with me, you know!"

Charlie looked shocked. "Bella watch your language! I have NOT told a single soul except for Billy here."

Billy cut in, "Bella, I've only told Jacob because I felt someone around your own age who is going through something similar could help you with the situation."

I felt my jaw dropped. I whipped my head around back to Jacob, my eyes wide. "What!?!" I exclaimed. "Jacob, you too?"

Jacob blushed a little at all the attention he was now receiving. "Uh, yeah Bella. I am Quiluete after all." he replied with a little laugh.

This is one of those 'Duh, V-8' moments everyone has every once in a while. I felt like a complete idiot for not realizing before that of course Jacob was probably going through the same shit I was. I looked around at everyone but they didn't seem to be looking at me like I was a moron.

"Sorry" I muttered.

Billy chose that moment to speak and turn everyone's attention away from me.

"Shall we sit at the table and talk?"

We all sat down at the kitchen table and Billy looked directly at me. "How much do you know about this, Bella?"

"Not much," I replied. "Mom told me a little bit but not much. She said that both her and Dad are descended from the Quiluete tribe many generations ago and that the tribe are shape-shifters. I know that I currently heal more rapidly, seem to be stronger and I am less accident prone than I was before."

"That is correct Bella. We aren't sure how the genealogy works and why some descendants turn into shape-shifters and some don't. Some of our full blooded tribe members don't ever shape-shift. The legend goes that the shape-shifting started in response to the threat of an enemy tribe we call the Cold Ones. They are in fact vampires. Our job is to protect the innocents from them. Although, many years ago there was a family of vampires living here that we made a treaty with because they had chosen not to hunt humans, only animals. Those vampires are rare and this family was the only one that I had ever heard of that had chosen to live that way."

I sat there staring at Billy like he was from another planet or speaking Chinese. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. VAMPIRES! What the Hell? Had I just been dropped into some weird fantasy world or something. The things they are telling me were like one of those weird paranormal books I had heard about. I was more into reading the classics myself but to each their own. I guess I didn't really need to read them now, I was living in one.

"Bella." I heard Charlie's voice like it was coming from a distance. I slowly turned my head towards him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah Dad, not really. Vampires are real?" I turned towards Jacob, trying to see if there was some joke being told at the table that I just wasn't getting. His face was totally serious. This was no joke.

I got up from the table and just started walking out of the house. I couldn't take all this in. I really had to get out of there. Once I got out of the door, I just kept going.

"Bella!" I heard Charlie call from the doorway of the house.


	7. Too Much Information or?, Chapter Six

A/N – Don't own and didn't create the world of Twilight. Just taking the characters out to play.

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What If - Chapter Six

Bella's POV cont.

I started to run and just kept going. I didn't even know where I was going. I just really had to get out of there. First I find out that I was becoming a shape-shifter, now I am being told that vampires exist. What next? Fairies?

I finally stopped by a cliff and found a log to sit on. My mind was spinning.

I jumped when I suddenly felt a hand touch my shoulder. I whipped around to find Jacob standing behind me.

"Hi." he said with a small smile.

"I didn't even hear you. You got a silent running mode or something?"

"Nah, just a wolf thing. You get used to it."

I gave a short laugh. "Yeah right. I don't think I will ever get used to what I just learned tonight."

Jacob sat down next to me on the log. He looked out at the water for a while before saying anything. While we sat there, I studied him. He was actually quite beautiful, short black hair, sculptured native face and his body was to die for. My eyes widened at that thought. For crying out loud, now I was admiring a boy younger than I was. How crazy was that. Okay so he was only younger by a year but still. I gave a deep sigh. Jacob turned to look at me.

"It will be okay, Bella. Being that you are really not a close descendant of the tribe, you may not get anything more from the benefits like the healing, strength and stuff like that. You will probably never actually change into a wolf." he said. "Not like me. I will eventually start shape-shifting. Now that's something to look forward to."

"I'm sorry Jacob, but you have to admit that this is probably easier for you to take in than me. You grew up with all the legends of the tribe. I didn't know anything about it until this stuff started happening to me. My parents didn't say a single word about my background. I think I am in shock."

Jacob gave a short laugh. "I actually didn't believe any of our legends until I started to go through these changes. Then I didn't have a choice."

"So, what happens now, do you think? Do I just go on as normal and just wait and see what happens or what?"

"Pretty much, I guess, " Jacob gave me a sympathetic look. "You start school on Monday right?"

"Yeah, will I see you there?" I asked, hoping he said yes so I would at least know two people in school.

"Nah, I go to school here on the reserve."

"Oh, right." I sighed. "Well, I guess we better head back to the house. I'm sure Billy and Charlie are wondering where we are."

We got up and slowly made our way back to the house. Charlie looked relieved when he saw us but he didn't say anything. He gave me a small smile

"You ready to go home, Bells?"

"Yeah Dad, I'm ready to go home." I thanked Billy and Jacob for their time and help. I was still not really sure I believed everything that had been happening for the past few months but I didn't really have a choice in the matter. It was happening and I guess I was just going to have to deal with it however I could.

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Jacob's POV

I watched Bella and Charlie leave wishing I could have helped her a little more than I did. I knew she wasn't going through half as much as I was but still, for someone that didn't know anything about our legends and way of life, I am sure that the news we gave her today was probably quite a shock.

At least she isn't guaranteed to actually turn into a wolf like I was. I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact that the legends that I had scoffed at for years were actually true.

I wondered off to my bedroom and laid down. Billy said there was more that hadn't happened yet in my transformation. From what he said, I wasn't looking forward to the rest of this. I was already feeling like I had the flu all the time.

I was wondering why this started to happen just in the last little while. There were no vampires in the area. According to the legends, we were only supposed to change when they were around. To "protect" the innocents. First it was Sam acting different. I actually thought he was forming some sort of gang or something. All the guys I grew up with were suddenly hanging around him and having nothing to do with the rest of us. Now I guess I knew what was actually going on.

I eventually started to doze off and let myself go to sleep, wishing that I would wake up in the morning and have all that had been happening just an awful nightmare.

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Bella's POV

Charlie pulled the truck into the driveway just as it was starting to get dark. Twilight. I loved this time of the night. I wasn't sure why but I always had and here in Forks, it just seemed even better. It was drizzling again. I was sure I wouldn't get much sleep again tonight. It was probably going to rain again. I probably mentioned before that really didn't like the rain. Cold, wet, and dreary. I still missed the sun in Arizona but I I knew I couldn't go back and live with Renee and Phil again. Not with what was happening to me now. I wasn't sure how I felt after the talk with Billy and Jacob. Knowing that Jacob was going through the same, or at least similar, changes that I was sort of comforting, in a bizarre weird sort of way.

I trudged into the house, saying good night to Charlie as I went up the stairs. I knew he was watching me and that he was worried about me but I just couldn't talk about this. I needed some time to myself to sort through things. From what Jacob said tonight, he was going through a lot worse than I was going to go through. It looked that like I was only going to have the so called benefits of being a shape-shifter without going through the whole process and actually change completely into a wolf. I guess that was good news. Sort of.

I could hear the TV go on and knew Charlie would be watching sports for a while until the news came on. I got ready for bed, looked at my computer for a minute and decided to just go to sleep. I grabbed my I-pod and laid down hoping the music would relax me enough to sleep and at the same time block out the rain that just started to fall.

I must have drifted off because the next thing I knew, I was woken up by a crazy dream. I saw myself running through the woods as a white wolf. I was running hard but didn't seem to be running away from something but rather to something or someone. I could see an image of a person in the distance and I just knew I had this desperate need to get to him. It was like I would die if I couldn't reach him. I sat up gasping for air. I glanced over at the clock radio on the night stand and saw that it was only 3:30am. I groaned. I only had another 4 hours to get some sleep before I knew Charlie would be up. It didn't matter that it was Sunday, he would be up by 7:30am and expect me to be up too.

I had one day left of freedom before school started on Monday. I wasn't really looking forward to that either. If I didn't fit in anywhere in a school with over 3,000 students, how was I going to fit into such a small school as Forks' High? At least I had Angela there. It was nice to know I would start with one friend. I just wish I was able to tell her the truth of what was going on with me but I wasn't about to share that information and become more ostracized than I already would be by being the new kid in the school.

I rolled over and thankfully drifted back to sleep.

The next time I opened my eyes, the clock read 10am. I sat up with a start. What the hell? Why hadn't Charlie woken me?

I jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom, then I stumbled downstairs to find that Charlie wasn't even in the house or backyard. I looked around and found a note from him though. Apparently there was some sort of emergency at the station that only he could tend to. Well, that worked for me.

I didn't have any plans for the day so I just puttered around the house thinking about what Billy had said last night. Why was the transformations happening again? Were there vampires around here? Oh My Gosh! What if there WERE vampires around here? I hoped like hell I wasn't going to turn into some kind of weird monster since I wasn't supposed to actually shape-shift into a wolf. I guess I should have asked some more questions before running off half-cocked last night. Maybe I could get Charlie to take me back out to Billy's place tonight.

I decided to give Charlie a call and get him to call Billy. I wasn't really comfortable calling him myself. Charlie was in the office so they receptionist put me right through to him and he agreed to call and see if we could go out to the reservation again after dinner.

He called me back after a few minutes and said it was okay. I decided to check out the kitchen for something to make for dinner and decided on doing a steak. I got everything all ready to just through on when Charlie got home and decided to go out and chill in the backyard with a book. I grabbed my copy of Wuthering Heights from my room and sat out on the back porch and waited for Charlie to come home.

Time seemed to fly and before I knew it I heard the front door slam and my dad was yelling my name.

"Out back, Dad! Sorry I was going to have dinner ready but I wasn't sure what time you were going to get home. I'll get on it right now."

"That's okay Bella. I should have called you when I was leaving the office but I didn't think of it. I guess I'm still not used to having someone at home."

I finished dinner and we ate in silence. Neither of us was much for small talk. After dinner we cleaned up and headed out to Billy's house.

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Jacob's POV

Dad just told me that Charlie and Bella were coming out again tonight after dinner. I hadn't seen him for most of the day. Today had been one of the worst days that I'd had since the transformation had started. I stayed in bed all day, sweating and shaking. I really wasn't up for company today.

Sighing, I quickly went out to tell my dad that I would just be staying in my room tonight while Bella and Charlie were here. He understood and gave me a small smile.

I figured Bella would be back here but I certainly didn't expect it so soon. I remembered seeing her when I was really young when she used to come to visit her dad. Billy and Charlie used to drag the two of us on their fishing trips. Bella would usually sulk and cry most of the trip until they gave up and went home. I wasn't sure if she remembered me from that time but she seemed comfortable around me and I really hoped I could help her with this shape-shifter crap once I was through the worst of it.

I heard the truck pull up outside and headed back to my room. I locked the door, put on my I-pod and buried myself under the covers.

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	8. The Day Before Forks High, Chapter Seven

A/N – Don't own and didn't create the world of Twilight. Just taking the characters out to play.

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What If? - Chapter Seven

Bella's POV

As Charlie and I pulled up to the Black's house, I realized I wasn't nervous about this meeting like I was last night. I knew what was happening now. I just needed some questions answered. I laughed to myself softly and shook my head at my thoughts. I was actually getting used to this?

Charlie looked over at me curiously but I just gave him a half smile and he looked away. I reached into my pocket and took out the list of questions I had written down this afternoon, hoping I didn't seem to much like an idiot when I gave it to Billy. It just seemed easier this way.

We got up to the house and I realized that once again, Billy was waiting out on the porch.

"Hi Billy" my dad greeted him as we approached.

"Good evening Charlie, Bella. Do you mind if we talk out here tonight? Jacob's not feeling well."

Charlie looked at me to see my reaction and I realized that "not feeling well" had something to do with his transformation. I didn't really want to know more than that right now.

"Sure, Billy. No problem."

I approached Billy and handed my piece of paper over to him. He took it with a puzzled look on his face until he looked down at it. He chuckled a little as he scanned down the page.

"Okay, I guess you were serious when you said you had questions," he said with a slight smile. "I'll just try to go through what I know and see if most of your questions get answered. Okay?"

"Sure Billy, that will work. Thanks."

"So. I hate to tell you but we really have no idea what will happen with you. Whether you will completely transform or not. With descendants so far from the Quileute bloodlines, it totally depends on the dominant genes. The more dominant the Quileute genes, the more likely you will be able to shape-shift. Most of the descendants that intermixed with the Caucasians of the area didn't stay around here and from what we have gathered, they haven't transformed at all. Some, such as yourself, who returned occasionally, did."

"Wow Billy. That is just as clear as mud, isn't it?" Now what was I supposed to do?

"Sorry Bella but that is all we actually know. It's completely up in the air. Depending on the dominant and recessive genetic makeup you have. I mean, you could probably go and have DNA testing done and that might help you determine where your dominant genes lay but there is no guarantee with that either."

"Well, that pretty much answers that doesn't it?" I shook my head. I had almost been hoping Billy could give me a guarantee that there was no way I would ever be able to actually turn into a wolf. I guess that hope was lost now.

Billy gave me an apologetic look. "Bella, you are welcome out here at anytime. I hope you realize that you are now one of us and you always will be, no matter what."

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Alice's POV

I blinked my eyes and realized I'd zoned out again. Jasper was still watching the TV so it must not have been as bad as the other time. I couldn't understand how he could watch these old war movies over and over again and not get bored but as long as I got to snuggle up to him, it was all good.

I glanced at Edward from beneath my lashes and realized I must have blanked out on him again too. I raised my head and met his eyes, giving my head a small shake and quickly glanced at Jasper. I did not want him to worry about me. He was having a hard enough time changing to our "vegetarian" diet and that was enough stress for now. Edward moved his eyes to Jasper and back to mine. He nodded his head and let me know he understood but from the look in his eyes, I knew we were going to be having a talk later. Much later I hoped.

I once again saw that brown haired, brown eyed girl and I really didn't understand why. Edwards eyes opened wide as he saw her in my thoughts. His eyes turned thoughtful. She was quite pretty in a way but she badly needed someone to help her shop for clothes! I snickered to myself, maybe that's why I started to have visions of her. She needed the fashion police in a bad way.

Edwards lips formed a small smile as he read my thoughts but just shook his head sadly at me. _What?_ I thought at him. He just shook his head again. _Whatever Edward. _Now he just smirked at me. Could I help it that I liked to shop? I stuck my tongue out at him. That caught Jasper's attention and he turned to me.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing babe. Edward was just being an ass as usual."

"Hey! I was not!"

"Were too!"

Jasper just shook his head at both of us, gave me a hug and suggested we head upstairs. Now that was an offer I was not about to turn down. I jumped up, hauling him with me. He chuckled, said good night to Edward and followed me. I was actually looking forward to tomorrow. We were heading back to school! It got so boring around the house when you didn't sleep. At least at the school there was some entertainment watching the humans.

Edward rolled his eyes at us and bade us a goodnight. I expected he would probably stay downstairs and play the piano for awhile. I wish he wasn't so lonely and sad. He really needed to find someone to love like Jasper and I or Rosalie and Emmett had.

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Edward's POV

I watched Alice and Jasper head upstairs and sighed. Sometimes having others thoughts in my head was just a pain in the ass. Especially when it involved the sexual adventures of ones I considered family. I shuddered.

I turned and wandered over to the piano and started fiddling with the keys. Ever since I had first seen that girl in Alice's mind, a tune had been running through my mind. I played with it a bit on the piano but couldn't quite get it right.

I decided to go up to my room and listen to something out of my vast collection of music.

I laid on the futon in my room, my thoughts kept drifting to the girl in Alice's visions. Who was she? Why did Alice keep seeing her? What did this girl have to do with us?

I was going to make myself crazy thinking about it so I decided to put the thoughts of her out of my mind and just drift off with Debussy's Claire de Lune.

Tomorrow we were back to school. There was something really pathetic about repeating high school time and again but it was the only way we could stay in a place for any length of time. It had been a few decades since we had been in Forks. Luckily there was no one left around here that would recognize us. It was nice to once again be in an area we were able to "act" like humans and not have to hide all the time from the sun. You had to love the Northwest weather of rain and overcast skies.

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Bella's POV

We got home from Billy's and I cleaned up the kitchen, had a shower and went off to bed. I knew Charlie thought it was strange but I just wanted to escape what was currently happening. Escapism was my favourite form of avoidance. Sleep, music or a book. I didn't care what I used as long as I could forget about things for awhile.

I tossed and turned for a while but just couldn't fall asleep so I decided to get up and go through my I-pod. I didn't know what the "rules" were at Fork's High School regarding them but damned if I was going there without one of my comforts. My taste in music was vast and sometimes weird. I pretty much listened to everything except for rap. I just couldn't get into that.

I scrolled through my play list until I came to one of my favourite songs, Faith of the Heart by Russell Watson. I knew the words by heart. I used to play it over and over on those tough days in Phoenix before my world started changing, when I felt I would never have a friend in the world. When I said I didn't fit in with the kids at school, I wasn't kidding. In all honesty, I could probably consider Angela my first real friend.

I decided to settle back into bed and try to go to sleep and listen to the song.

Its been a long road

Getting from there to here

Its been a long time

But my time is finally here

I can feel the change in the wind right now

Nothing's in my way

And they're not going to hold me down no more

No they're not going to hold me down

Cause I've got faith of the heart

I'm going where my heart will take me

I've got Faith to believe

I can do anything

I've got strength of the soul

No one's going to bend or break me

I can reach any star

I've got Faith, I've got faith, faith of the heart

It's been an long night

Trying to find my way

And through the darkness

Now I've finally had my day

Well I will see my dream come alive at night

I will touch the sky

And they're not going to hold me down no more

No they're not gonna to change my mind

Cause I've got faith of the heart

I'm going where my heart will take me

I've got Faith to believe

I can do anything

I've got strength of the soul

No one's going to bend or break me

I can reach any star

I've got Faith, faith of the heart

I've known the wind so cold

And seen the darkest days

But now the winds I feel

Are only winds of change

I've been through the fire and I've been through the rains

But I've been fine

Cause I've got faith of the heart

I'm going where my heart will take me

I've got Faith to believe

I can do anything

I've got strength of the soul

And no one's going to bend or break me

I can reach any star

I've got Faith, I've got faith of the heart

Going where my heard will take me

I've got strength of the soul

And no one's going to bend or break me

I can reach any star

I've got faith, I've got faith, faith of the heart

It's been a long road

I drifted off after the song finished and hoped I didn't make too much of an idiot of myself at school in the morning.


	9. First Day, Chapter Eight

A/N – I do not own Twilight. I am just taking the characters out for a spin.

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**First Day - Chapter Eight**

Bella's POV

I awoke to the sound of my alarm screaming and the feeling of damp sheets. By the gods, I hated it when my temperature rose during the night. It made me feel like I'd slept in a sauna.

I also realized that I was still wearing my I-pod and the wonderful voice of Bobby Long was singing Left to Lie in my ears. I must have been tired to have actually slept while the music played on and on. I shook my head, thinking I was getting pretty pathetic here.

I forced myself to sit up and turned off the noise of the alarm. I leaned back on my pillows and let myself relax for a few minutes as the song finished. Sighing, I got out of bed and headed to the bathroom, noticing Charlie's bedroom door was open as I walked by. Once again, Charlie had already headed to work before I was even awake. It almost felt like I was living by myself sometimes. I showered, got dressed and headed downstairs.

There was a note on the kitchen table with a set of keys. I looked at the keys, puzzled, wondering what they were for. Scanning the note, my eyes widened and I ran to the front door (without tripping on something). There, sitting in the driveway, was an old truck. I did a little jump . Woo hoo! My own wheels! I didn't have to go to school in the cruiser (thank the gods) or walk. I wasn't sure which would have been worse.

I looked at the clock and realized it was only 7:45am. School started in an hour but I figured I'd head over there early and find a parking spot away from everyone else. I may have started to heal more quickly, but I was still accident prone. It wasn't beyond the point of luck that I would run into someone's car or something equally stupid.

I grabbed my backpack and coat. It still felt weird, even after two weeks, to have to grab a coat when leaving the house. I don't think I ever wore one in Arizona, at least not that I can remember. I locked the house up, threw my stuff in the truck and climbed in. Luckily Charlie had salted the walkway and driveway or I'd have probably ended up on my ass from the ice covering most of the flat surfaces. Yeah, I hated winter too. Snow plus ice equalled an accident for Bella.

I started the truck and winced at the loudness of the engine. Oh well. Can't look a gift horse, or truck even, in the mouth now could I? I pulled out slowly onto the road and was pleasantly surprised on how well the truck handled. Making my way to the school, I was kinda happy that I left so early. It took about 20 minutes to get to the parking lot. I stopped the truck near the office so I didn't have to walk so far to get my paperwork, figuring I'd move over to the back parking lot in a few minutes. As I got out of the truck, I noticed something shiny on the front tire and looked closer after shutting the door. Chains! Wow, Charlie must have gotten up early to put them on for me! It sort of made me all warm and fuzzy inside. I'd have to make him a special dinner as a thank you for the truck and the chains tonight.

After retrieving my paperwork from the office, I moved my truck into the back parking lot closest to my first class, English. Hopefully I wouldn't trip over anything on the way. I wondered what Angela's schedule was and when I would see her. We couldn't really plan anything for today since I didn't know exactly what my schedule would be.

As I gathered my backpack and coat, other students started arriving and the parking lot filled up pretty quickly. Apparently, almost everyone drove to school in Forks. Most of the vehicles were like mine, old and used but there were a few nicer cars, especially the silver Volvo that was just pulling into the parking lot. Not that I cared a great deal about cars. As long as they started when you turned the key and got me from point A to point B, that's all that mattered. I headed inside the school to find my English class.

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Edward's POV

You really don't realize how boring things are when you don't sleep. Twenty four hours can feel like forever sometimes. We had all decided to get up at dawn and hunt before we had to be at the school for first bell. It just made it a hell of a lot easier to be around the humans if we didn't want to throw one down and feed on them.

Just because we were *_snicker* _vegetarians, didn't mean the lure of their blood didn't affect us. And for Jasper, it was more difficult since he was a recent addition to our little "family". He was trying so hard but still had a long way to go. It was a good thing Alice was there for him.

We got back from our hunt and changed for school. I usually drove us since my car was the one that blended in more with the rest of the town. The others liked more fancy cars, well except for Emmett who loved his jeep.

I was ready before the others so I pulled the car out of the garage and parked out front of the house to wait. All of a sudden I got the image of the brown eyed, brown haired girl in my mind. Great, just what I need to start the day, a picture of _HER _in my head.

"_Alice? What the hell is going on now"_

"_Nothing. Edward, I think I'm going to make a new friend today!" She replied excitedly._

"_WHAT?!?!"_

"_Edward, don't YELL. I said I think I am going to make a new friend today." _She drew out each word like I was an idiot. _"Maybe that's why I've been seeing her lately."_

Alice bounced excitedly down the stairs to the car with Jasper right behind her. Emmett and Rosalie came out of the house a few minutes later. We got to the school quickly. Yeah, okay. I drive fast. So sue me. At least I have a built in radar detector in my head.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I caught the flash of brown hair in the back parking lot. I drove through the front lot with my family looking at me quizzically. Well, all except Alice that is. She had a self satisfied smile on her face as she looked over at me from the passenger's seat.

"_What?" I thought._

"_Nothing."_ She just sat there smirking as she turned to look over where the girl was standing.

We watched as the girl paused, looked at the car for a minute then turned and headed into the school. Alice and I looked at each other. The day just got a little more interesting. Here was the girl from Alice's visions. Right here in Forks. At Fork's High School even. Holy crap!

Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper all looked at us with the "What the Fuck" expression on their faces.

"That is the girl from the visions," we both said at the same time.

Their jaws all dropped for a moment then Jasper turned to Alice.

"Should we be worried?"

Alice gave him a comforting smile, "No I think it'll be okay. I'm pretty sure she isn't dangerous or anything. But she is going to impact all of our lives in some way. I just can't see her clearly enough to figure out how. I have seen her and I together in a friendly way though. I am pretty positive that she's going to be my new BFF. Let's go in! I can't wait to meet her!"

Rosalie, ever the cautious one, looked at Alice in shock. "FRIENDS! With a HUMAN! What the hell are you talking about, Alice? I mean, I know we are around them a lot but being friends with one is a whole different ball game. We can't be friends with them. Our lives are supposed to be private for a reason. We can't have humans finding out what we are! It'd cause a mass panic! We'll be run out of town!"

I turned to Rosalie. "Rose, it'll be ok. From what I have seen in Alice's visions, there is something different about this girl. It's almost like she has some secret of her own and I'm sure that Alice knows by now how important our privacy is. You don't have to remind her of that."

Emmett grabbed Rosalie in a big bear hug and whispered something in her ear. I try to block out what my family members think from my mind to give them as much privacy as possible but Rose's mind was just screaming thoughts. She was panicking, thinking that if our "secret" got out, we'd have to move again. She hated the moving around. I guess some of our kind just don't get used to it. Rose was one of them.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Jasper watching Rose intensely. The last thing we needed was a panic stricken vampire at school today. Gradually I could hear Rose's mind calming so I figured that Jasper was doing his thing. He had this amazing ability to project emotions on others, vampire and human alike. The only time it was a problem is when him and Alice were having sex and he didn't control his ability as he usually did. It could get pretty frustrating for some of us. Okay yeah me. At least the others had someone to help deal with the aforementioned frustration. Sucks to be me, fuck my life and all the other sayings that are appropriate.

Now that Rose was calmer, we headed into the office to pick up our paperwork for the semester and head to class. With everything that happened, it was certainly a good thing that we went hunting this morning and ended up here early.

Well, first class was math. Oh great. I wish I could sleep; it would make the hour go by a little faster. One of the problems of re-doing high school over and over again, you had done pretty much everything already.

Alice headed off to English and the rest wandered off too. I am sure Emmett and Rose will be finding a broom closet soon enough. It always amazed me that those two never got caught.


	10. New Friends?, Chapter Nine

A/N – I do not own Twilight. I am just taking the characters out for a spin.

**New Friends? - Chapter Nine**

Bella's POV

I made my way to the classroom for English, following the map that was in my package of papers. Not one to instantly make friends, especially given my experiences in Phoenix and the uncomfortable way I felt with all the changes I was going through, I kept my head down and found a seat at the very back of the room. I tried to avoid looking at anyone directly, peeking at people from beneath my lashes.

I jumped as someone suddenly sat down beside me and almost shouted "Hi" in my ear. I looked up and sitting next to me was a pale pixie-like girl with short dark hair. I looked around to see who she was talking to. She got an exasperated look on her face, rolled her eyes and looked straight at me.

"Yes, I am talking to you. My name is Alice."

She was literally bouncing in her seat. I just stared at her for a minute before I responded, "Uhm, I'm Bella."

"I'm so glad we met, Bella! We're going to be great friends." She looked me over for a minute, "We are SO going shopping!"

I looked at Alice for a few minutes and gave her a little smile. "Yeah, well, I don't really like to shop."

"What!?" she actually looked shocked. "Everyone likes to shop, Bella. Don't worry, I'll help you."

I just gave her a small smile but didn't reply. I wasn't quite sure what to make of her. At that moment, we heard the sound of someone clearing their throat.

"Miss Swan, Miss Cullen. If I might interrupt your conversation, we could get class started."

"Sorry Mr Banner." Alice replied sweetly.

I just ducked my head down while the whole class now turned to look at the new kid. Me. Did I mention how much I hated being the centre of attention? If not, now you know.

Alice smiled over at me then turned her attention to the teacher. The class was a little boring since I'd already read all the books from the list he gave us. I'd actually been in an accelerated program in Phoenix, so was probably about a year ahead of this curriculum. Alice looked just as bored as I was.

The morning continued the same way. Angela was in my math class but since she already had a table partner, I ended up sitting with a girl by the name of Jessica. She seemed nice enough but there was just something about her. Maybe it was my "wolf senses", I thought wryly. I just felt that there was something she was hiding from those around her. She might be like some of those girls in Phoenix, who are nice to your face and badmouth you behind your back.

I shrugged. Maybe I was just being paranoid. It wasn't like I had a line-up of people that wanted to be friends so I just decided I'd take her at face value and see what happened.

Lunch time finally arrived and I waited at the classroom door for Angela to gather her books. We stopped by our lockers quickly and headed to the cafeteria. I stopped at the doorway to look around and get my bearings. My eyes froze suddenly when they came to the table where Alice was sitting.

There, sitting at the same table, were 4 of the most attractive people I had ever seen. They were all as pale as Alice and my attention seemed to be hooked on them. Angela and I got into the line up and grabbed our lunch. We found a table that was right in the line of sight of Alice's table so I could still check out the other people there while we ate.

Sitting right next to Alice was a blonde guy with warm golden eyes and a beaming smile. He seemed to only have eyes for her. Even when his attention strayed to the others sitting at the table, he always seemed to be drawn right back to her. Next to him was a huge guy and I mean massive. I'm pretty sure his muscles had muscles. Like wow! I wondered if he was on the football team or something. And he was really cute too! He had his arm around the shoulders of the beautiful blonde girl sitting next to him. It was obvious in how he looked at her that they were a couple. She looked like she could have been a model. My eyes continued around the table and stopped at the last person.

Oh. My. Gods. He was beautiful! I couldn't stop staring at him. His hair had auburn highlights and was a mess, like he had been running his fingers through it all morning. I didn't have words to describe him. My eyes followed the line of his square jaw to his lips. I had this sudden urge to walk across to their table and kiss him. Suddenly, his head whipped around and he was staring right at me with a puzzled look on his face. I quickly turned away and looked at Angela. She was watching me with a cat that ate the canary grin.

"I knew it." She said. "It never fails! One look at the Cullen family and people's minds go to mush.

"The Cullens?" I looked at her for a second like I was coming out of a fog before it registered what she said. "Who are they?"

"Yeah, the table you were looking at so intensely. They're the Cullens. The pixie like one is Alice and the guy staring at her is Jasper, her significant other. The next two are Emmett and Rosalie, also a couple. And last but not least, the guy with the sex hair is Edward."

"Sex hair? What the hell is that?" I chanced a glance back at Edward to find him still looking our way but now he had a bit of a smirk on his face.

"You know sex hair. What your hair looks like just after you've had sex." She explained like I was an idiot. "And Edward looks so good with sex hair, doesn't he?"

"I woudn't know but yes he does," I replied, then I laughed when her jaw dropped.

"What do you mean, you don't know? You mean you're a …." Her voice was getting louder so I quickly put my hand over her mouth.

"Shh! It's not like I want it advertised! Geez, Angela!" I took my hand away hoping she wasn't going to continue. I looked around to see if anyone had heard and saw that Edward was still looking at our table. His eyes were on me and even from across the room, I could see they were a warm golden brown just like Jasper's. He looked away quickly but I got the feeling that he knew what had just been said. I didn't see how unless the guy had super sonic bat hearing. I blushed and looked back at Angela who was still staring at me like I had two heads. Like what the hell?

"What?!"

"Nothing. I just didn't think there were any girls left our age that were still …" she lowered her voice, "virgins."

I happened to look over at the Cullen's table as she said that and once again Edward was looking over at us. I could see him say something to Alice, who looked over and waved. I gave her a little smile and waved back, not really knowing what to think.

Edward's POV

I knew the second she walked into the cafeteria. Almost every guy in the room turned to check her out. Three seconds after that, the testosterone level went up about 6 times. I was having a tough time blocking all their thoughts about the new girl. I glanced over at her but she seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact she was suddenly the main attraction in every single guy's fantasy.

Alice had already been singing her praises from the small encounter in math class. I almost got the feeling she was trying to sell me on Bella. Not sure why but.

"Oh, and Edward. She smells divine! Not like how other humans smell either. I can't quite figure it out. Maybe if you get close enough you'll see what I mean."

"Alice, I am not going to go around smelling her for crying out loud!" I couldn't believe what Alice was thinking. Was she actually trying to play matchmaker?

Suddenly the words Bella, Edward and sex hair ran through my mind from the direction where Bella and the other girl, I think her name is Angela, were sitting. I quickly turned to look over at their table and saw Bella staring in my direction while Angela was laughing to herself. I smiled while I listened to Angela explain what "sex hair" was. What will these girls think of next? I have sex hair? Who would have thought? I chuckled to myself.

"What so funny Edward?" Emmett had decided to pick then to pay attention to something more than Rosalie.

"Nothing, Emmett."

Alice just had to put her two cents in. "It's Bella"

Emmett turned to her. "Who's Bella?"

"She's the girl from my visions."

Everyone suddenly turned to her in shock. "What?"

Alice looked at them each in turn. "She is the girl from my visions. I can't believe how many times I have to repeat myself around all of you all the time. What? You can't listen the first time I say things? Bella is sitting across the room with Angela."

They all turned and looked across the room where Alice indicated.

I suddenly caught the word virgin from across the room. I looked over and saw Bella with her hand over Angela's mouth. Huh? Bella is a virgin? She must be the last one standing considering the thoughts I had had to listen to about all the other girls in this school, including Angela. Bella chose that moment to turn to look at me. I tried to look away as quickly as possible to prevent her from knowing I'd heard but I don't think I made it. I saw her blush and look away. It was then that I realized that everything I was hearing from their conversation was only coming from Angela. Bella was completely silent. I had never come across anyone, human or otherwise, that I couldn't read their thoughts.

This semester just got a whole lot more interesting it seems.

The warning bell rang that lunch period was over and we all got up to head to class, dumping our uneaten food on the way out. Next class for me was biology.

I headed straight there and took my usual seat. I was staring out the window when suddenly a scent floated across the air to me. Even though I'd just fed that morning, my mouth filled with venom and I whipped my head around to see where the scent was coming from. But not only that, my pants started to suddenly get awfully uncomfortable just as quickly. I think the second thing is what was freaking me out. I have never had THAT reaction before to just a smell.

I looked around but the only new thing I saw was Bella standing just inside the door of the lab. Crap! Alice was right. Bella did smell divine! I could smell strawberries which I assumed was her shampoo or something but besides that her blood didn't have a copper smell like most humans, there was something more and the combination smelled delicious.

Mr Granger turned and pointed to the seat next to me. Oh for fuck's sake. Could the situation get any more difficult? Now she was going to sit next to me? She walked over and sat on the stool. I tried to lean away as far as possible to reduce the scent but it was too powerful. This was going to be impossible. I glanced over at Bella who seemed to be blushing and trying to avoid looking at me. Apparently I affected her in some way as well. . I wish I could read Bella to see what she was thinking.

I was having a hard time keeping myself together. My instincts were torn. One side told me to just grab her, feed and to hell with the consequences. The other side told me to grab her and do something completely different. I was torn between hunger and lust. I couldn't do either, of course. I was going to kill Alice. She could have at least warned me. She must have known something by how she was acting at lunch.

I looked at the front of the class where Mr Granger stood wondering what the chances were that I could play sick and leave the class. Considering how much he didn't really like me, I highly doubted he would let me go.

I tried to keep from looking at Bella for the next hour but my eyes kept being drawn back to her. I had to keep swallowing the venom that filled my mouth and my other "problem" was getting pretty uncomfortable.

Finally the bell rang; I grabbed my books and literally ran out the door.


	11. Hunger, Chapter Ten

A/N – I do not own Twilight. I am just taking the characters out for a spin.

Hunger - Chapter Ten

Bella's POV

I had watched Edward for the last hour and couldn't tell what was going on with him. He almost looked like he wanted to either kill me or fuck me. I wasn't sure which was predominant. I couldn't believe that I was given a seat next to him and thought he might be as friendly as Alice. I should have figured I wouldn't be that lucky. The hour of biology was torture. Even more surprising, I think was that as I watched, his eyes went from the golden brown they were at lunch to pitch black. The Cullens were getting weirder and weirder. Maybe I wasn't the only one in Forks who was different besides the Quileute, I thought with a snicker.

At the bell, Edward sprang up from the table and literally ran out the door like the hounds of hell were on his ass. I wasn't sure what to make of that either.

Gym was my next subject. My most dreaded too. Bella plus gym equals injuries to either myself or others. I wondered if there was any way I could get out of it.

I walked into the gym and headed for the change room. As I came back out, I saw that Jessica was also in this class. She was standing over by the bleachers with a blonde guy, looking at him like he was the only one in the room. He, however, appeared rather bored. Not knowing what to do, I just sort of stood there waiting for class to start.

Jessica looked over and saw me, waving me over to where she was standing. As I approached, she turned to the guy and introduced me. His name was Mike Newton. Suddenly he grabbed my hand and gushingly welcomed me to the school. I didn't quite know what to do. I did NOT like to be grabbed. I snatched my hand away from him and turned to Jessica. She was looking at me like she wanted to hit me or something. Oh crap. This is just my luck. I sort of make a new friend and some guy has to fuck it up. Not that I have a lot of experience with guys. I didn't even have a boyfriend in Phoenix but from observing the other girls in the school, I quickly saw that getting between a girl and the object of her desire is not the wisest thing.

I caught Jessica's eye and shook my head, trying to reassure her I was not interested in Mike. She looked at me closely and caught on to what I was trying to tell her. She relaxed a little and smiled at me.

I looked back at Mike and, keeping my voice remote but friendly, thanked him for his welcome.

"Jessica, I will talk to you later." I turned and walked away from them just as the teacher entered the gym.

I made it through the class without killing myself or someone else. You wouldn't laugh if you knew how bad it can be. At least now I heal faster than before. Unfortunately, others don't. Since it was my last class, I headed to the office to turn in my paperwork and walked out to my truck. As I walked through the parking lot, I noticed that the Cullens were all gathered around the Silver Volvo that I had seen this morning. Edward was in the driver's seat with his head in his hands looking upset about something. Alice was leaning through the window trying to talk to him. Edward kept shaking his head. I wondered what that was all about.

Suddenly his head whipped up from his hands and he was staring right at me. His eyes were still black and I couldn't tell if he was angry or just upset. I had this urge to go over and comfort him. I turned away quickly before I gave in to my feelings but not before Alice saw me.

"Bella!" she yelled across the lot. "Wait!"

I reluctantly turned back towards her and waited. I wasn't sure if I wanted to talk to her right now given how Edward had acted in biology but then again, it wasn't her fault.

"Hi, Alice. What's up?"

Alice stood in front of me bouncing on the balls of her feet. It was like she had so much excess energy it was bursting from her there was no way she could hold still for even a second.

"Bella, Edward is so sorry for how he acted in biology! He just suddenly wasn't feeling well. I hope you won't hold it against him or me."

"It's okay Alice. I was just starting to wonder if I'd done something to piss him off." I laughed, peeking around her to look at him. "I hope he's feeling better soon."

Even though he hadn't spoken to me and acted like a complete ass, I still didn't want him to be sick or anything.

Alice suddenly grabbed me in a hug. "Thank you, Bella! We still have to make a date to go shopping! I'll see you tomorrow in class!"

As she hugged me, I felt a sudden chill go through me. It was like she was made of ice. I shivered and she stepped away from me and muttered an apology. I looked at her for a minute and shrugged letting her know it was ok. Maybe she was coming down with something as well. I just hoped I wasn't going to catch it.

I said goodbye and turned back to the truck. I figured I would stop by the grocery store and get something to make Charlie a nice dinner for getting me the truck and putting the chains on it this morning.

Edward's POV

After biology class, there was no way I was going to be able to sit in another classroom. Even though it was Bella I was craving in more than one way, I didn't feel strong enough to be around any human like this. I headed to the car and hid there for the rest of the afternoon.

Just after last bell, Alice and Jasper found me. Jasper could tell I was a mess of emotions before he even reached the car and did his best to try to counteract what I was feeling. I gave him a half smile for his attempt but it wasn't really having much of an affect. Alice leaned in the driver's window to talk to me and all of a sudden I could smell Bella again. I groaned as my dick got hard and my mouth filled with venom. How the hell was I going to survive this? I couldn't go to school with a constant hard on or with this feeling of hunger for her.

I had been with other vampires but never in a million years would I have dreamt to having his uncontrollable urge to be with a human. I had never had this reaction to a human before. They were way too fragile tor us to have sex with. When in the throes of passion, we couldn't guarantee that we could control our baser instincts for feeding and hold back the strength we had.

I threw my head into my hands and moaned. Alice reached in and touched my shoulder gently trying to give me some sort of comfort. She tried to say something but I just shook my head at her. I really had to get home and talk with Carlisle.

Alice leaned in closer and whispered, "Edward, Bella's right there."

I raised my head and there she was, standing not 10 feet away from the car watching us. She turned away and started heading for her truck.

Alice looked up and saw Bella turn away and yelled out her name. I glared at her. What the hell was she doing? I did not need Bella to come anywhere near me right now. I was barely controlling myself. I relaxed a little as Jasper attempted more of his "magic" on me and Alice headed towards Bella.

They talked for a few minutes and Alice returned to the car. She didn't have to say what happened; I "heard" her side of the conversation. Great, now Bella thought I was sick. Well, I guess that was somewhat better than her thinking I was mentally unstable or a complete asshole given how I acted in class.

Emmett and Rosalie showed up and piled into the back seat of the car, all over each other as usual. Jasper climbed in after them and Alice jumped in the front. We got home in minutes and everyone piled out. Alice leaned back in looking at me quizzically when I didn't turn off the car.

"I'm going to head to the hospital and talk to Carlisle."

_Ok, Edward. Be careful. _

I gave her a tight smile and pulled away.

Once I got to the hospital, I parked in visitor's parking and headed straight to Carlisle's office through the back way. I figured it was best to avoid any humans I could until this hunger abated.

I let myself into the office and sat down on the couch to wait. I leaned back and closed my eyes, trying to relax and get the memory of her scent out of my head. It wasn't working.

I only had to wait a little while before Carlisle showed up. He took one look at me and automatically asked what was wrong.

I explained what had happened with Bella at school and what I was feeling. I had always found it very easy to discuss anything with him. He was like a father to me. I had only been 17 when he found me dying of Spanish influenza and had changed me after my mother had pretty much begged him to. I wasn't sure if she really knew what she had asked of him but he did it. And here I was now, sitting in his office with a convoluted situation that I don't think any of us had ever been in before.

Carlisle was at a loss. He'd never heard of this happening before but told me he would do some research and suggested that I take a few days off from school until we could figure something out. He phoned the school and let them know that I wouldn't be attending school this week. He made up a file just to cover my ass with the school in case they decided to phone his receptionist. You never could tell. There were a couple of teachers that really didn't like me since I was more educated than they were and took every opportunity to get at me.

I headed home, planning on going to my room once there. Carlisle had already called Esme and let her know what was going on so I knew I didn't have to go through the whole explanation with her. She gave me a quick hug as I passed her and gave me a warm smile until she saw my eyes. Her face became concerned but I gave her a quick smile, returned her hug and headed upstairs.


	12. First Week, Chapter Eleven

A/N – I do not own Twilight. I am just taking the characters out for a spin.

First Week - Chapter Eleven

Bella's POV

After dinner, I did the small amount of homework we were given for the day, bid Charlie goodnight and headed to my room. I was still wondering if Edward was really sick or if there was really something else going on.

I went to bed early, not looking forward to the next day of school.

The first thing I noticed when arriving at the school parking lot in the morning was that there was no Silver Volvo anywhere to be seen. As I locked up the truck and headed towards the school, I saw 2 cars I hadn't seen before pull in. One was a yellow Porsche with Alice at the wheel and Rosalie riding shotgun and the other was a Jeep with Emmett and Jasper. I guess there was no way I could see Rosalie riding in an open vehicle, I laughed to myself.

Alice waved at me, indicating I should wait for her. She parked her car and ran over to give me a hug. I shivered. She was still quite cold. She shrank back like she had done something wrong and looked away. Feeling bad, I hooked my arm through hers and dragged her towards the school. She looked up and smiled at me, giggling.

"So, where's Edward?" I asked, figuring I'd give the big pink elephant in the room recognition right away.

She looked at me in surprise and then glanced quickly away.

"Oh, Dad figured he should stay home for a few days. He really was sick last night."

"That's too bad. I hope he recovers soon." I squeezed her arm, letting her know that I was being sincere.

The week went on that way, Alice and I meeting at the beginning of the day and getting together with Angela in the evening or chatting online but there was no sign of Edward at school. I was actually starting to wonder if he was ever going to come back. Even though he was an utter ass to me that day, I had to admit to myself that I was kind of intrigued by him.

His eyes that could go from liquid honey brown to darkest black in hours, his square jaw, his ruffled 'sex' hair, his husky voice, even his smell drew me to him. I shook my head. I was getting pretty pathetic, mooning over a guy that was not even around. By the time the weekend rolled around, I tried to get him out of my head by planning a shopping trip with Alice. I might as well get some new clothes if I was in the mood to torture myself.

Edward's POV

I stayed home all week trying to come to terms with the way I felt about Bella. It didn't help that every time my thoughts turned to her I got a hard on. I ended up wearing sweat pants all week to avoid painful developments. I was getting tired of having 3 showers a day too. Without the smell of her blood, most of my thoughts turned to how many other things affected me. The scent of her hair, the curve of her breast, the fullness of her lips, her beautiful brown eyes. A downside of being a vampire, you remember things clearly as if they are right in front of you.

I went hunting several times to keep myself from wanting to go and hunt Bella down. I forced myself to not think about how her blood sang to me. I was shocked at my behaviour on Monday. I had always been proud of my self-control ever since choosing to live the vegetarian way of vampire life.

Alice spent the week continuously telling me all about her new best friend. I was happy for her. Rosalie wasn't one to do the girly things that Alice liked to do. I just hope I didn't fuck it up by killing her new BFF. I also hoped she was being careful to keep our secret in tact. The last thing we needed was that getting out.

I snorted. It wasn't like I had done such a bang up job on Monday. It's a good thing I was at least smart enough to get away from her or there would have been hell to pay. Rosalie would have kicked my ass if we had to move again in such a short period of time.

Carlisle's POV

It hurt to see Edward in such turmoil. I had never heard of such an occurrence like this happening before. There had never been a single story about a human affecting one of so strongly in so many ways.

I searched through the vast library I had collected over the years on anything to do with our kind and almost went as far as contacting the Volturi since they had been around far longer than anyone. By week's end I gave up and decided to call up Caleb, the oldest vampire I knew of. I'd met him in Europe 200 years ago and even then he was 900 years old. How he had managed to stay alive so long was something he never talked about. He didn't think much of my family's way of life but he still kept in touch every few years to see how we were doing.

It had been about 5 years since I'd last talked to him and I hoped the number I had for him was still current. He'd never gotten into the "new fangled technology" like computers, but luckily he did get a cell phone once they were small enough to conceal.

He answered the call on the second ring, sounding very happy to hear from me. It was seldom that I actually took the initiative to call him. He was usually the one to either call or drop by wherever we happened to be living at the time. I never asked how he seemed to know where we were.

I explained what happened to Edward and he replied that it appeared that Bella was Edward's "singer". He described it as a human's blood that seemed to actually call to one of us. It was very rare but it did happen.

He also explained that we are also fiercely sexually attracted to our singers. It didn't lead to a long life for the human, however, since usually the blood ended up being more of an overpowering need than the other cravings in the vampire. The singer usually ended up either being changed or killed.

"Caleb, I need to know what I can do to help Edward. He's being tortured right now."

"Carlisle, there isn't really anything you can do for Edward. He's going to have to find the balance between the two sides of his singer on his own. He will have to either give in to his total need for her blood, or he will overpower it within himself and go on from there. Think of an alcoholic giving up alcohol, he can stop himself from drinking, but the craving never really goes away. Its pretty much like the lifestyle you and your family has chosen. It's going to be harder for him since you have all chosen to live a "vegetarian" way of life."

"One other thing Caleb, all of the kids say that they are attracted to Bella's blood. Edward more so I guess but they also say that there is a different type of smell to it as well. Something not quite human, do you have any idea what would cause that?"

Caleb laughed. "Well Carlisle, as I'm sure you have realized in your time on earth as a vampire. There are more of us mythical creatures out there than you would think. Didn't you come across some shape-shifters a few decades ago? In fact, weren't they near where you are right now?"

I thanked Caleb for his time and we ended the call with me issuing a sincere invitation to come and visit sometime soon.

I sat there thinking about what Caleb had relayed to me. I wondered if it could actually be something to do with the shape-shifters that lived on La Push. I knew from town gossip that Bella's mother was also from the area and that she had left abruptly when Bella was a young child but no one ever spoke of the reason behind why she left.

I decided to wait until tomorrow to talk to Edward, giving me a chance to sort through the bit of information that Caleb had shared with me. I hoped to come up with something that would allow Edward to continue to go to school with the rest of them. I knew Alice wouldn't handle it very well if he couldn't be there for her, although I think she was getting close to Bella too. Maybe I should talk to Alice and see if she has had any insights to help me. I realized that if Bella was actually in mortal danger from Edward, Alice would have told me. That made this situation a whole lot more interesting. Alice's visions were always changing depending on what was decided by the person she saw, but she would never allow a human to be in danger from any of us.

I decided to have a little chat with her before the day was out.

Alice's POV

It was so awesome having a best friend. I love Rose like a sister but she just isn't into a lot of the stuff I like. And even though Bella wasn't really interested in shopping as a main activity like I was, she had been such a good sport as I rattled on and on about clothes and such. I was so happy when she decided to let me take her to the mall this weekend.

I just hoped Edward would get over his problem with her blood soon. I knew that he wouldn't hurt her. She was going to be part of our family, at least that's what my vision was so far. Nothing had been decided that would change it a whole lot. Edward kept wavering between drinking her blood and screwing her senseless and even though he wasn't sure which way he was going to go, I already knew I had met my new sister. She didn't even seem to care when I gave her a hug. I really had to stop doing that but it was so irresistible to do it. Half the time I didn't even think of it, my body just seemed to do it.

At the end of the week, Carlisle asked to speak with me privately. I had been waiting for him to ask me about my visions on this. I explained that my visions had gotten stronger since I started hanging around Bella more at school. We didn't see each other outside of school yet. Shopping tomorrow would be the first time. But I definitely saw her as part of our family and I didn't see Edward harming her. To say Carlisle was relieved to hear that was an understatement.

"Come on Dad," I called him that even though he wasn't really my father in any sense of the word, human or vampire. Not like he was Edward's having turned him. "Do you really think Edward would lose that tight control over himself that he has always had? The trick is going to get him to believe that he won't harm her."

"I know, Alice. I believe 100 % in Edward's ability to control his vampiric side. What can we do to convince him though?"

"Let me talk to Jasper. Maybe he has some ideas. At least when he goes to school, Jasper can try to stay close and help him deal with the emotions he is having. It must be pretty scary to suddenly become so overwhelmed with feelings after all these years. I know he has always been in complete control even when he has been with someone."

Carlisle gave me a little smile. "Yes Alice, Edward is having a very hard time of it right now. But I'm going to have to make him go to school on Monday so you lot will have to take him hunting over the weekend and hopefully that will help with one craving he is having. I've talked to Caleb today as well and will discuss what he had to say with Edward this weekend."

I hoped whatever Caleb had told Carlisle was good news but I guessed that would depend on your point of view. Edward's view at the moment wasn't so good.

"I'll talk to Jasper tonight Dad. Tomorrow I'm going to take Bella shopping."

Carlisle looked at me closely. "You are being careful aren't you Alice?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Of course I am but come on! I have already seen that she'll be a part of our family eventually."

"That doesn't mean that we don't have to be careful with her, Alice!"

"Alright, alright!"

I wandered off to find Jasper and talk to him about Edward. Hopefully he could think of ways we could help him not kill Bella and get us run out of town and I could keep my new best friend.


	13. Clues, Chapter Twelve

A/N – I do not own Twilight. I am just taking the characters out for a spin.

Thank you to all of you that are following this story. I sincerely hope you are enjoying it!

Clues - Chapter Twelve

Edward's POV

Carlisle and Esme came to me on Sunday to talk about the situation. He wasn't due to be back at the hospital until Monday morning.

We all sat in his study and he went over with me everything Caleb had told him, which admittedly wasn't very much.

"So I have to decide if I want to kill her or fuck her?" Well, this was a whole hell of a lot of help wasn't it? I had already figured that much out on my own. I also realized what I said and looked sideways at Esme who was sitting next to me on the couch. "Sorry."

"Alice says she doesn't see you hurting Bella, Edward. You have to start having more confidence in your ability to resist her blood. The other part, I am being told is not going to be a problem. According to Alice's visions, she sees Bella as a part of our family in the future."

Esme came over to the couch I was sitting on and gave me a hug. _Edward, try to see Bella as a person. Try to see past her blood and the other feelings she brings out in you. You might find that it will help make you feel more in control of yourself. I believe in you, sweetheart. I know you won't hurt her._

I went to my room and thought about what both Esme and Carlisle said. Esme's thoughts actually made a lot of sense. I knew I had to go to school tomorrow. There was no way I could avoid it forever. If I started thinking about Bella as a person instead of just a "human" as we usually think of them I might be able to handle everything with more control. It was frustrating sometimes pretending around the humans. We had to overcome all of our natural vampiric instincts to fit in. We had to make sure we took breathes of air, blinked and moved at their speed to try to avoid seeming different than them. At first it was difficult to maintain the illusion but after decades of practice, I pretty much had it down pat. I hadn't come across any situation yet that would cause me to break the illusion so far.

Alice and Jasper stopped by my room a little later to let me know that they were there for me. Luckily a lot of my classes were with Jasper and I knew he'd do his best to calm me if needed it. I was not, however, looking forward to biology.

Alice hugged me and let me read all of her experiences with Bella from the previous week from her mind. She let me know in her own unspoken way that she believed in me. I hugged her back and gave her a slight smile.

Not long after they left, Emmett stuck his head in through the door. We hadn't really talked much this week.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm not really sure, bro."

"I'm here for ya, whatever you need."

"I know Emmett. I might have to take you up on that too."

He gave me his goofy smile and said goodnight and turned to head to his and Rose's room.

"Emmett!"

He stuck his head back in, looking at me questioningly.

"Do you want to go hunting with me before we head to the school?"

"Sure, we can do that. I'll ask Jasper if he wants to go too."

"Great. Thanks Emmett."

I listened to music for a while, too keyed up to even think about reading or playing the piano. I tried to keep my thoughts away from Bella for as long as possible but it was extremely difficult. The smell of her blood isn't even what came to mind. It was the smell of strawberries in her hair, the curve of her lips, her warm brown eyes that kept coming to me. I was beginning to think that what Caleb had told Carlisle could be right. I had more control than what I gave myself credit for. I could resist the bloodlust that came upon me when I was near her. The only other option I had would be to leave my family, and I was not about to make that choice if I could help it.

I ran through what Alice had shared with me about what she and Bella did throughout the week and found that it was helping me see her as a person. How she tried to avoid being the centre of attention. How she was getting annoyed with Mike, Tyler and Eric for all the attention they were giving her. How the girls were being such bitches because the guys were paying so much attention to Bella and not on them. How she was one of the most accident prone girls I had ever seen in all my years. To my surprise, I started to feel almost protective of her.

By the time Emmett and Jasper knocked on my door at 5am, I was more than ready to get out of my bedroom and head out for a quick hunt. I overindulged in hopes that at least the bloodlust would be appeased before I had to see her.

We went back to our usual arrangement of getting to school except Rosalie decided she wanted to take her car instead of riding in Emmett's jeep. Emmett reluctantly agreed giving his jeep a wistful look.

We arrived before everyone else did and parked in our usually spots in the back parking lot. We'd been there for about 15 minutes before the other students started slowly showing up. Eventually, Alice started almost vibrating next to me. She was staring across the parking lot and I turned to see what she was looking at. Just pulling in was Bella's red truck. I took a deep breathe that I didn't need and straightened my spine. I could do this. I can do this. I AM going to do this. Alice turned and gave me a big smile. Humph. I guess she thought I could. I gave her a crooked smile and took another breathe.

Bella parked her truck a few spaces away from my Volvo and Alice ran over to her. Damn. She moved too quickly. I looked around to see if anyone noticed. No one had. I looked over at Jasper and he turned to look at me. _We are definitely going to have to talk to her about that, Edward. _

I nodded my agreement. In her enthusiasm, Alice was getting a little careless.

Bella's POV

I noticed the Volvo as soon as I turned into the parking lot. He. Was. HERE. Holy Hell. I had tried all week to keep my mind occupied so as not to think about Edward Cullen but alone in my bed at the end of the day, my mind would turn to that first day. The thoughts and feelings I'd had when I saw him across the room at lunch, his actions in biology, his disappearance. When I closed my eyes I could still see his eyes so black with lust. I shivered.

I got out of the truck and was just turning when Alice popped up in front of me. I looked over to where Edward and the rest of the Cullens were standing near his car and back to Alice. How the hell did she get here so fast?

My attention was brought back to Edward as he stood beside Jasper, staring at me. I shivered and turned back to Alice. She gave me a quick hug as always, I was even getting used to her slight chill.

She started dragging me towards the rest of her family; I pulled against her a bit, hesitant to get near Edward. She looked back at me.

"It's alright Bella. Edward's feeling much better now."

As we approached, I noticed his eyes were once again the beautiful golden colour they had been at lunch on Monday. Today he was wearing black jeans and a royal blue shirt that looked totally HOT against his pale colouring. His hair was a mess as usual. Oh no. Did I just think that? Am I actually thinking about Edward in THAT way? I looked at Alice to see her smiling at me like she knew something I didn't. I wasn't sure I liked that.

All of a sudden she grabbed my arm and looked closely at my elbow.

"Bella! What happened to the huge bruise you had yesterday? I know it was there!"

I jerked my arm away from her and flushed. I knew that at some point someone would notice it. Damn it!

"I have good genes Alice. I heal really fast." I had gotten used to withstanding pain before my body started going through "The Change" as I started to call it. Being so accident prone, I was pretty much hurting from one thing or another throughout my whole life. Now that I healed quickly, I didn't even notice the bumps and bruises I got.

I saw Alice look over at Edward for a moment and then turn back to me. She didn't look convinced but I guess she decided to let it go for now. I glanced over at Edward and saw that he was staring at me intently, with such a fierce look on his face that I shivered.

I leaned toward Alice and whispered in her ear "Are you sure Edward is feeling better?"

Alice looked quickly at Edward, then back at me with a quizzical look on her face. I looked back over at Edward and saw that his face had lost that fierceness from just moments ago. Had I imagined that look on his face?

The warning bell for first class rang and I realized we had all been standing out in the parking lot for longer than it had felt. Alice started dragging me towards the school and Edward and the others followed. She kept looking back at Jasper with a smile and when I glanced back, he was looking at her lovingly.

We all stopped at our lockers and headed off to first class. I was wondering what was going to happen after lunch in biology today.

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Alice's POV

I was still puzzling over the disappearance of the huge bruise on Bella's elbow when the lunch bell rang. I headed to the cafeteria to find Edward. I really needed to ask him what Bella had been talking about when we were out in the parking lot first thing and what he thought about the bruise thing.

I found him just entering the cafeteria and grabbed him by the arm.

_I need to talk to you right now!_

He turned to look at me with a question in his eyes then glanced into the room and indicated the fact that Emmett, Rose and Jasper were already waiting for us at our table.

_Ok. I will think. You will listen. There is something very different with Bella! I think it's why I don't see her future clearly. The only reason I know she is going to be part of our family is because I see you clearly. She's going to be very important to you. But I have been noticing things since last Monday. She doesn't seem to care about my coldness, she heals fast and she seems to be quite strong from what I have seen. She isn't Vampire. She may be pale but she is warm, actually VERY warm. Does any of this remind you of anything?_

Edward looked a little puzzled and shook his head.

_Maybe I should run all this by Carlisle tonight when he gets home from the hospital._

Edward nodded his head in agreement and we headed towards our table.

We had been sitting there for only a few minutes when Bella entered the room. I looked over at Edward and nudged his foot with mine. _I am going to get Bella to sit with us. That okay with you?_

Edward nodded and I waved over at Bella indicating for her to head this way. She looked almost relieved and I saw why as soon as she started waking over. Within the span of a few minutes, the time it took for her to walk from the door to our table, she was accosted by 5 different guys. The last one was Mike Newton right as she reached us. I glanced over at Edward and saw that his eyes were starting to get a strained look. His eyes weren't changing so I knew it wasn't the bloodlust that hit him last Monday. Suddenly it hit me. He was getting mad about the guys that kept going up to Bella.

As she reached our table with Mike hard on her heels, Edward suddenly stood up. He towered over Mike and told Bella to have his seat. Mike was startled at the suddenness of his movement and quickly excused himself. Bella gave Edward a grateful look and sat down quickly.

Edward seemed to be in complete control of himself but I knew that was misleading. He'd always had more self control than any of us but there were limits. The next 2 hours were going to be really tough for him between lunch and then biology. I knew he was going to be okay, I just hope he knew it too.

The week flew by as Edward and Bella avoided each other besides sitting at the lunch table with the rest of the family. Monday's biology class went fine but they had another one together on Friday. Hopefully everything went fine then too. I loved spending lunch time with Bella. It was so nice to have a best friend to talk to. Jasper was my soul mate but it wasn't the same thing and with Bella, I could help her with her hair and wardrobe and all that fun stuff. I knew that she wasn't really into all that but she indulged me anyway.


	14. A Test of Control, Chapter Thirteen

A/N I don't own Twilight but wish I had thought of it first. Just taking the characters out for a spin.

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A Test of Control - Chapter Thirteen

Bella's POV

Edward was already at our table when I finally managed to lose my "admirers" and get to class. He had moved his seat as far away from mine as was possible and was leaning towards the window. I was starting to get a complex. Did I smell or something?

I sat down and opened my books, getting ready for class to begin. The teacher wasn't present yet so I made an effort to ignore the gorgeous person sitting next to me.

"Hello, Bella." I suddenly heard from his direction. His voice was low and sounded like he was in pain.

I turned my head to look at him as I responded. "Hello, Edward."

"I wanted to apologize to you for last Monday."

"You were gone for the rest of the week. Alice said that you were sick?"

He looked away for a moment and then back to me. "Yes, Carlisle thought it best if I stay home for the week."

"Well, I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

He gave me a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes and I kind of wondered if he really was feeling better. Since first thing this morning, his eyes had changed colour again from golden honey to a chocolaty colour but at least this time he didn't look like he wanted to kill me or .. well, you know.

The teacher arrived to start class. We'd be working with the microscopes today to identify mitosis. Edward took the paper when it and the slides were put on our table and started filling it out. I grabbed the microscope and slid the first sample in. I identified it and Edward wrote it down. Apparently, he didn't feel the need to check which was kind of nice. He identified the next one and when he swung the microscope back to me, our hands went to pick up the next slide at the same time. My mind registered two things. One I felt an electrical shock when our hands touched. And two, his hand was just as cold to the touch as Alice's.

I withdrew my hand holding the slide and put it into the microscope, peering through my curtain of hair to see if Edward had felt the same things as I. Edward was looking at his hand with a rather strange expression on his face.

We continued to work in silence, avoiding touching each other again and were done before the rest of the class. I really wanted to talk to Edward but I had no idea what to say. I heard him take a deep breathe.

"So, have you enjoyed living in Forks so far, Bella?"

I looked at him with surprise. He was TALKING TO ME! Oh My Gods. Right, question, have to answer. I gave a short, humourless laugh. If only he knew. "Ah, no, not really."

He seemed a bit shocked at my admission but got over it quickly. "Oh? What don't you like?"

Knowing I couldn't really get into the real reasons I was not "enjoying" Forks, I just said the first thing that popped into my head. "The wet. The cold. I don't really like those things."

He seemed to find that quite humorous and started to laugh. "Well, you certainly picked the wrong place to be if you hate those things."

His laughter was catching. "Yeah, well. I didn't really have a lot of choice in the matter."

His face became curious when I said that. "No choice? Your parents forced you to come here?"

"No, but it's complicated."

He looked at me intensely, "I'm sure I can keep up."

Just then the teacher asked us to pack up the experiments and bring everything to the front of the class. I avoided answering Edward by grabbing everything and getting up. I came back to the table just as the bell rang so I grabbed my books and made a beeline for the door.

I hadn't even gotten two feet out the door and Edward was right behind me. Damn, what is it about the Cullens? How do they move so damn fast?

"You didn't answer my question, Bella."

"Uhm. I, uh, had to come here for medical reasons." I couldn't meet his eyes as I said it. It sounded stupid but it was the only thing I could think of off the top of my head. No one had actually asked me why I had moved to Forks, so I hadn't come up with a plausible reason.

"Edward, I gotta go or I'm going to be late for my next class. Later."

I almost ran away from him.

Edward's POV

I stood there watching as Bella literally ran away from me. I glanced down to my hand, the hand that had felt an electrical shock when our fingers touched. What the Hell happened in there? And she was so WARM. Not that I went around touching humans but I knew there was no way they generated as much heat as Bella did. Alice was right. There was definitely something different about her.

I was still amazed that I had gotten through the class without the bloodlust taking over, although other desires were certainly not shy about showing themselves. I thought I had covered it pretty well in class but I adjusted my jeans a little as I walked to my next class, hoping no one was watching. I heard a snicker in my mind. Damn. I looked up the hall and there was Emmett watching me. Crap! He was going to be relentless about this. My brother loved to tease the other members of the family and most of the time he was like a dog with a bone. He would squeeze as much out of seeing me uncomfortable as possible.

I had decided to take Esme's advice and get to know Bella as a person. I was hoping I could casually ask her questions without her getting uncomfortable. I thought it was working until I asked her why she moved to Forks. It was like a shutter came down over her eyes. She was obviously not willing to talk about the reason and that just made me more curious to find out what it was.

Since Alice was going to talk to Carlisle tonight about all the little things she had noticed about Bella, I decided to let her know I was going to be there. I found her just outside the doorway of her next class.

"Alice!" I called just as she was heading inside.

She turned to me with a smile. "Yeah, I know Edward. See you at the car after last class. How about we go straight to the hospital and talk to Carlisle there? Jasper can catch a ride home with Rose and Emmett."

"That sounds good. See you then."

I made it through the rest of the afternoon but my thoughts kept drifting to the enigma that was named Bella. What was it about her? She didn't even react the way a normal human should when Alice hugged her or when our fingers accidentally touched. Her accelerated healing and higher than normal body temperature were also clues to something but I just couldn't put my finger on what I was missing. I really hoped Carlisle could help us figure it out.

I was the first one to reach the car. Luckily Jasper had met up with Alice outside her class so she didn't zip out at vampiric speed. I really needed to say something to Carlisle about that. I wondered if she was so focused on the fact that she has seen Bella as a part of our family that her cautious nature was being cast aside a little. I know that she would never intentionally put us at risk, she loved the whole family. It was weird how her and Jasper had fit right in with us when they arrived out of the blue that day so many years ago. They were like a missing part of our family that we didn't know about but definitely were happy to have come home.

Jasper gave her a kiss goodbye. It utterly amazed me how they seemed to be like two halves of a whole. Just like Emmett and Rose and Carlisle and Esme. I couldn't imagine one without the other. I had always felt like a fifth wheel when around them all.

We drove over to the hospital and headed to Carlisle's office. Luckily it was the time of the day we could usually find him in his office doing paperwork. We didn't bother to knock since he would have heard us coming down the hall. You just have to love vampire hearing. It comes in handy when you least expect it.

Carlisle looked up as we came through the door with a smile on his face. It faded as he saw the serious expressions on our faces.

"What's up, you two?"

Alice and I looked at each other and I nodded my head indicating that she should tell Carlisle what we were here for.

"We came to talk to you about Bella."

"What about her?"

"Okay, so there are a few things I have noticed about her in the last week that we thought we should tell you about given Edward's little "problem" around her. Or should I say "problems"." She said with a little giggle and a sidelong glance at me.

I glared at her but she just gave me a big smile. Apparently I was the butt of a big joke for her. She quickly gave Carlisle the rundown of what we'd noticed. I didn't tell him about the electrical current that seemed to run between us. I didn't think it was related.

"So, let me see if I have everything. She is quite warm, heals fast, and is strong. Is there anything else?"

I decided to add something that I noticed. "When we accidentally touched in biology class, she didn't even seem to react to the coldness of our skin other than a slight shiver."

"Edward, if her temperature is as high as you have indicated, she probably thinks it's more to do with her than you. I imagine anyone feels quite cold to her right now."

"Could she be sick or something? But that wouldn't make sense would it since Alice has said she had a bruise that healed much quicker than it should have. Carlisle, this just doesn't make any sense."

I looked at him closely and saw he had a very thoughtful look on his face. I could see the wheels turning. He'd thought of something.

"What, Carlisle? What have you thought of?"

He looked at me intensely for a moment. "Edward, I don't really feel comfortable talking about it here. How about we talk at home in a couple of hours? I just have to update the charts of the day and I'll be home."

We left Carlisle to his paperwork and headed home. I wandered up to my room to wait. I was more than curious to find out what he might have thought of.

Bella's POV

I avoided Edward for the rest of the day. Alice disappeared right after school so I just headed home after stopping by the grocery store to re-stock the kitchen. I was just putting away everything when I heard a knock at the door. I thought that was weird since I hadn't heard a vehicle pull in. I opened the door to find Jacob on the other side.

"Jacob! What are you doing here?" Looking up to where his face used to be and having to look up farther to see his eyes. What the hell happened to him?

"Hey, Bella. I hadn't seen you for a while and wanted to see how you were."

I didn't say anything for a minute. Looking at him I could see that the last week he had gone through more changes but he didn't look like he was in pain anymore. He also looked like he had doubled in size. Since he was only wearing a pair of jeans and no shirt or shoes, I wondered how he had gotten to my house. I looked outside behind him but didn't see any sort of vehicle then looked back at him with a puzzled look. He finally caught on to what I was looking for and laughed.

"I ran here, Bella."

My eyes widened and looked him over again. I realized that his transformation must be complete now. He was capable of shifting into a wolf. Wow! Cool! Ah crap. I shook my head and met his eyes.

"Uhm. Cool?"

Jacob laughed and grabbed me in a big hug that forced all the air out of my lungs. I hit him his back to get his attention. "Jacob," I groaned out. "Can't breathe."

"Ow, Bella! That hurt" he said as he let me go, looking a little surprised that he had actually felt me hitting him.

I smiled at him and pointed to myself. "Part shape-shifter, remember."

He laughed and gave me another hug, more gently this time.

"Right. I guess I'll have to watch myself around you."

I bade him to enter the house and headed back to the kitchen with him right behind me.

"I guess you're feeling better, Jacob?"

"Yeah. Transformation is all done now but, boy, that wasn't a week I want to repeat any time soon."

"I can understand that." I tried to smile but was sure it came out more like a grimace.

"How are you, Bella? Anything new happening?"

"Not really, Jake. Same old stuff with me. I think my hearing is getting better though and my sense of smell."

"More wolf-like traits."

I gave him a dirty look and he just laughed at me. "Get used to it Bella. It's not going to stop."

I sighed, "I know. I just wish this wasn't happening to ME."

He gave me a rueful smile and a one armed hug before opening up the fridge.

"Help yourself why don't you?" I said with a laugh. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"I'd love to but I can't. Have to get home and make something for dad."

"Okay, well tomorrow both of you come for dinner. There's ton of fish in the freezer from dad and Billy going fishing so we might as well use it up."

"Sounds great, Bella! We'll be here. Well, I should probably get going before Charlie shows up."

As he turned to leave, I suddenly thought of something.

"Jacob! That stuff your dad said about vampires. It's really true isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is Bella."

"Do you know if there is any living around here right now?" Little things had started to add up over the day about the Cullens and I figured at least I could ask Jacob what he thought about it.

Jacob looked sort of surprised, then cautious. "What makes you ask that?"

I wasn't sure if I should actually name names or what but figured if the Cullens were what I thought they might be, the wolf pack would already know it.

"Well, I noticed some people that were sort of like how Billy described. Pale, cold, don't eat, or at least I haven't seen them actually eat anything, they seem to move faster than normal. Things like that."

Jacob turned away for a moment and then turned back to me. His face looked like he was struggling with a decision. He grimaced but seemed to make up his mind fairly quickly.

"Uhm, we don't normally talk to outsiders about pack business but since you are technically a kind of member of our tribe through blood and all, I'm pretty sure I won't be breaking any of our rules by talking to you about it."

"Yes, the vampire coven that our ancestors made a treaty with is back in the area. They're vegetarians so they don't feed on the humans in the area. They only hunt the animals around here so we leave them alone."

"Back?"

"Well yeah, Bella. They don't age after they are turned into vampires so they pretty much live until something kills them, just like a full shape-shifter won't age as long as they always shift forms. If we stop shifting, our biological clock goes back to normal and we start aging again."

My eyes widened. Wow. That is different. I hadn't changed anymore other than my eyesight and hearing so I didn't think I was going to get to the shifting stage. I couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not now.

"Well, Bella, I better get going before Charlie gets home. He may know about us but I don't think he is very comfortable with the knowledge." He laughed.

I gave him a hug, made sure he remembered to come for dinner tomorrow with his dad and watched him leave. I hadn't actually seen someone shift yet so I followed him to the door. He took off running and suddenly, in a blink of an eye, a wolf was running instead of Jacob. That was almost cool how he did that. I turned back into the house and got dinner ready to be put in the oven when Charlie got home.

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Hello readers

I will try to update this weekend but can't promise. Work is interfering with my writing and then I have a Bobby Long concert to go to on Monday Sept 7th. I will try to add a chapter over the weekend though!

Hope you continue to enjoy the story


	15. Truth is Sometimes Stranger, Chapter 14

I do not own and didn't create the world of Twilight, just taking the characters out for a walk.

A/N - So sorry for the length of time before posting this chapter. As a treat, it is longer than usual 

After re-reading the last few chapters I realized the timeline was a bit messed up so I added a little bit to the end of chapter twelve  I guess my brain did go on a little holiday while anticipating Bobby's show. Hopefully it all makes more sense now G

And my brain was sort of on a giddy Bobby Long (and Phil Taylor) overload this past week and the Twilight world took second place. LOVE Bobby! *laugh*. Seeing that boy live doing a show is absolutely awesome! I have now come back to reality and my story so thank you for your patience.

I will try to get a couple more chapters done before you lose me to a completely giddy Sam Bradley overload on the 25th of Sept (LOL)

Truth is Sometimes Stranger than Fiction - Chapter Fourteen

Bella's POV

After Jake left and dinner was done, I headed up to my room telling Charlie goodnight. Jake had given me a lot to think about. This second week of being around Alice and the one week with Edward had given me a lot of clues about them that had finally clicked in my head and the information I had just garnered from Jake filled in the missing pieces.

So, Alice was a vampire. I was thinking I should be more shocked or maybe scared than I felt right now. Aren't they supposed to be evil creatures that kill everyone they come across by drinking their blood? Alice was just like any other young girl, obsessed with shopping and in love with her boyfriend, Jasper.

Wait a minute! EDWARD! Oh My God. That gorgeous specimen of male was a monster? Or was he? He didn't go around attacking people like you read vampires do. Well, the vampires in books, and even the movies, anyway. Although that first day of school, he looked like he wanted to kill me. But he also looked like he wanted something else too, like jump my bones in the middle of where ever we were, and I honestly couldn't tell you if I would resist all that much if he did. I mean, who in their right mind would turn down something that looked that gorgeous, the bronze ruffled hair, the square jawline, the oh so kissable lips, the piercing eyes and that BODY! Oh. My. Gods. I had never in all the time in Phoenix experienced feelings I'd had during the week towards Edward. Even though he hadn't really talked much to me other than that day in Biology, I kept having these fantasies of him grabbing me, dragging me up against his hard, shaped body and kissing me senseless.

I was getting confused.

Jake said that they were different than others of their kind. That they hunted animals and left humans alone? Oh, wait a minute. What if I did actually eventually shift into a wolf? Would Alice and the rest of them want to hunt me too? I just couldn't fathom Alice attacking me in any way. She took me shopping, for crying out loud. She had never done anything in this past week to even make me think she was a danger to me. I had seen the indications throughout the week that she wasn't human. Her speed, her coldness were a couple of those but she hadn't even lost her temper or anything.

I was still thinking about it when I went to bed and it took a while to fall asleep. When I did, I was racked by dreams that turned into nightmares. Images of Edward kissing me senseless and then all of a sudden my dream changed as he drew his face away from mine and I could see he had grown huge fangs, growled and went to bite me. I woke up screaming and shaking.

All of a sudden my door burst open and I screamed again, startled.

It was Charlie. "What's wrong, Bella?!?!"

I looked up at him; glad he didn't have his gun and shook my head. I was not about to tell my father I was having a dream about kissing a guy who turned into a monster with fangs. I was definitely NOT going there. I hadn't even told him of the dreams of seeing myself turn into some kind of monster wolf which had started right after Renee had told me what was happening to me. Sometimes with Charlie, less was better. I had decided to not even broach the topic of vampires with him. Especially when I knew that Billy hadn't mentioned it. I knew that there were some things that shouldn't go beyond the reservation but I guess I was one of the exceptions because of my changes.

"Its okay, Dad, I just had a nightmare. I can't even remember it now."

He came over and sat at the edge of the bed. He looked a little awkward like he wasn't sure what he should do from there. I patted his hand and reassured him I was fine. He got up, bent over to kiss my forehead and went back to bed. He wasn't a man of many words.

I dosed off again but didn't have any more dreams that night, at least none that I remember. I knew one thing though; it was certainly going to be interesting going to school on Monday morning. I wasn't quite sure how I should act around Alice and Edward now that I knew what they were. I didn't want to lose Alice as a friend and well, as far as Edward was concerned, I was pretty sure I liked him in a way that he didn't reciprocate. I mean, I knew he looked at me a certain way, but I also knew you didn't necessarily have to like someone to lust after them. I may be a virgin but I did know a few things from observing the other kids in Phoenix.

Carlisle's POV

As soon as the kids left, I grabbed the book I had brought from home that morning and rifled through it. I had already heard through sources that the Quileute shape-shifters had become active again. From what I had learned over the years since first meeting the tribe, that whenever there were vampires in their area it activated the recessive gene that started their young to transform. I found it curious that our presence could be what sets off this fascinating chain of events.

I wasn't sure how to tell Alice and Edward what I suspected about Bella. I knew she wasn't a full blooded shape-shifter because her blood would have created a completely adverse reaction in all the Cullens. When we had met them years ago for the first time, we could only stand to be in their presence for brief periods of time. Their blood smelled off to us.

It seemed Bella called to Edward on 3 different levels. Her human blood sang to him inciting bloodlust, her Quileute blood created the hunting instinct (which I don't think he had figured out yet) and he found her physically attractive as well. Talk about a triple edged sword. No wonder he was going out of his mind these couple of weeks. I was once again amazed at the control that Edward had over himself. He was literally the only vampire that I could think of who could actually withstand the calling of Bella Swan.

I finished off my files for the day and sat in my office for a few minutes going over the information that I had found in the Quileute website. One of the best inventions as far as I was concerned was the internet. It was fascinating the information I could now find out about our people and other beings of the "other world"

I put the finished files on my receptionist's desk and headed home. I felt the need to talk to Esme before I tried to explain to the kids about Bella. I gave her a quick call and asked if she felt like a quick hunting trip when I got home. She sounded curious as she agreed and I smiled. It wasn't often that we just went off on our own to hunt so I was sure she knew that something else was going on.

Esme was ready to go as soon as I got home. Emmett, Jasper, Alice and Rosalie were all in the living room, I assumed Edward was in his room as usual, and gave us a curious look as we headed to the back door after quickly saying hello. As we reached the door, I turned back to look at Alice and her eye were wide. I gave my head a quick shake to let her know we would talk once I returned. She nodded in response realizing that I wanted some time to think before talking to her and Edward.

Esme and I discussed the revelations about Bella for a while before just getting into the hunt. Esme's opinion was for me to give Alice and Edward the information that I had discovered and leave it them to discuss it with the rest. They were, after all, the ones that were actually spending one on one time with her.

We got in to find the whole family in the living room watching some old Dracula movie. I don't know why but Emmett thought these movies were the height of comedy and couldn't get enough of them and usually forced the rest of us to watch them with him. They turned as we entered the room and I asked Edward and Alice to come into my office for a few minutes.

The three of us headed up to my study / office and I asked them to have a seat. They both looked at me curiously but took seats.

"Well, I'm not sure where to begin."

"At the beginning?" Edward said, tongue in cheek.

I glared at him jokingly for a moment and retorted "Wow, Edward, thanks for the idea.' I was happy to see Edward maintaining some sense of humour through this.

We all laughed and the tension in the room was reduced a bit.

"Carlisle, you found out something?"

"Well, without actually doing a physical examination on Bella, I have come up with some theories."

"I'm sure, Edward, that you remember the last time we lived in Forks? When we met up with the Quileute tribe and made the truce with them?"

"What? What truce?" Alice piped in.

"Sorry Alice, you and Jasper hadn't joined us yet. Let me tell you about it. When we first came to live around Forks several decades ago, we accidentally crossed onto Quileute land while hunting. That's when we discovered that they are actually shape-shifters. Their tribe members are the protectors of innocents and when there are vampires in the area, their young start to go through the transformations to acquire the ability to change into wolves. Of course, the wolves that they change into are not you're typical wolf. They are a much larger version and are basically made to kill vampires. When the tribe caught us on their land, we had just killed a deer. We explained that unlike other vampires, we did not feed on humans. They agreed to have a peace truce with us as long as we didn't hunt on their land, didn't hunt humans, and didn't change any humans. Those were terms we could live with so we agreed and the truce has remained throughout the years. I'm pretty sure that they know we are back in the area so I am assuming that their youth have started to transform again"

"What does this have to do with Bella?" They both asked.

"Well, from my research when we first met the Quileute shape-shifters and from what you have described of Bella, I believe that she may be descended from the Quileute and be part shape-shifter. I don't know how much of their blood runs in her veins or how far she will transform but the evidence thus far points me in this direction. I've bounced the theory off Esme and she agrees with me."

Alice gasped. Edward just stared at me. "So what you're saying, is that Bella is part of the tribe in this area that basically kills us. Sweet. Not so much."

"Edward, I'm not even sure if Bella knows what she actually is from what you and Alice have said."

It was then that Edward started. "Wait! I asked Bella why she came to Forks and she didn't really want to answer me. She came up with 'for my health crap' which didn't make sense at the time since she doesn't appear sick or anything. I guess I now know what she was talking about. I am pretty sure she knows what she is and she might even know what we are. Alice has been a little lackadaisical in keeping her vampiric abilities under wraps. I am not 100% positive but Bella might have picked up on Alice's speed."

I looked at Alice and she had the decency to look ashamed at her lack of discipline. "Alice, we did talk about this didn't we? Just because you see Bella being a part of our family, you cannot drop your guard and let others see you do things you shouldn't be capable of."

"I'm sorry, Carlisle. I'll try to do better. I just don't feel that I have to hide who I am with her and I tend to forget that there could be others that notice."

I shook my head and gave her an indulgent smile. "I know Alice. But you know Rose will be very put out if we end up having to move after only 6 months of being here."

Edward laughed. "When isn't Rose put out about something or other."

I couldn't resist smiling but tried to reply seriously, "now Edward, be nice."

Edward grinned then turned serious again. "So what do we do now? With Bella I mean?"

"I guess you just act normally around her and we will see what happens. I'll leave it to the two of you what you want to tell Jasper, Rose and Emmett but the whole story might be best, just in case."

They left my office thinking about what they had learned. I knew I wouldn't have to worry about Alice. With her visions guiding her, she would take this current change of events in stride and deal with it. Edward, on the other hand, may have some difficultly dealing with the fact that Bella was a part shape-shifter. I just hoped he could handle these new developments.

Edward"s POV

Well, this was a fucking interesting turn of events. I, a one hundred and eight year old vampire, was in bloodlust, oh heck, just plain old fucking lust with a partial shape-shifter? Now how the hell was this going to work? I guess I had to make up my mind to pursue this or not. After the week away from school and Bella, I knew that I was strong enough to stay away from her if I had to. When I weighed the loss of my family against giving into my bloodlust for Bella, my family won. I was not going to let this human, or so I thought at the time, rip me away from them or cause them any pain. I know what Alice wants me to do. She still maintains that Bella is going to be a part of our family somehow. And in all the time I have known Alice, her visions have never been wrong. We learned early not to bet against her. I wasn't sure if she was expecting me to fall in love with Bella or what. Not that that is in my plans. I just want to have her and get this lust out of my system. Yeah, okay. That sounded a little crass but I had no plans in my immediate future that included anything near a permanent relationship with anyone. The last time I spent any kind of time with someone in a more serious way; it turned out to be a disaster. I didn't realize Tanya was a bit off her rocker until I tried to break it off. It wasn't an experience I wanted to revisit any time soon and Tanya was a vampire. With Bella being part shape-shifter, I wasn't sure I really wanted to go down that road but I really wasn't sure if I was going to be able to resist the pull I felt from her. I sensed that she was also feeling the same pull from how she was always looking at me when I caught her. I really wished I could read her mind like I could others. I only knew she was a virgin from accidentally hearing it in Angela's mind and still couldn't fathom how that beautiful girl got to be 17 and not had sex. Were the boys in Phoenix that blind? I had to admit though, I was glad they were because it meant that if I did pursue this lust that I felt for her, I would be her first. So sue me. I am still a 17 year old even if I have lived most of my life as a vampire and just thinking about being Bella's first was so hot. Crap, just thinking about it made my dick hard.

I was going to have to figure out how to deal with Bella in school. Just like our family, I was sure that no one around her, except maybe her father, knew about the shape-shifting aspect of her life. Humans were very afraid of things that they didn't understand and vampires and shape-shifters were probably the top two on the list that most of them didn't even realize existed. They had a hard enough time just dealing with people that claimed to be psychic.

I decided to go chill in the family room and play my piano for a while. I still had this tune running through my head so I could work on that for a while.

I was just fooling around with other songs when I felt Alice come into the room and join me. I was guessing she had talked to Jasper and now wanted to discuss with me the information that Carlisle had given us.

She sat down next to me on the piano bench and waited until I had finished what I was doing. I closed the lid and turned to her questioningly.

"Well?"

She gave me a small smile. "Well. That was certainly not what I was expecting. I guess I now know why my visions weren't clear. Why I blanked out for you."

I gave her a quizzical look.

"Well, I think it's her shape-shifting side that doesn't let me read her completely. If she was a full shape-shifter, I don't think that I could 'see' her at all."

"OH! Maybe that's why I can't read her thoughts either!"

Alice gave me a look that said I must have been dropped on my head too many times as a baby. "Duh."

"Oh, give me a break. My thoughts have been more inclined about not killing her this past week to figure out why I couldn't read her mind."

"Only not killing her?" she smirked at me.

"Shut up."

"So what are we going to do? I don't want to lose her as a friend, Edward. I love all you guys so much but it's been so nice to have a girlfriend that is all mine. Well, not that I won't share her with you. I know that's how it's going to be. But she is my best friend and shape-shifter or not, I am NOT going to lose her."

"Alice, the peace treaty between us and the Quileute tribe is still in effect so there should be no hostilities between us unless one of us does something to break it and that would include my letting the bloodlust over take me and I bite her."

"Edward, you aren't going to do that! How many times do I have to tell you that? You won't hurt her. I know what I have seen and she will be a part of our family. I know you think you aren't interested in having any type of relationship with someone after what you went through with Tanya, but believe me when I say that Bella is your destiny. She is your other half just like Jasper is mine. I don't know why a partial shape-shifter has been predetermined for the soul mate of one of us but I don't argue with fate and neither should you. My gift has served me well since I woke up as a vampire, not knowing who I was or where I came from, but if I hadn't known I would find Jasper and that we would find your family, I honestly don't think I would have been sane for very long."

I put my arm around Alice's shoulders and hugged her close. It had been quite the shock for our family when Alice and Jasper had knocked on our door one day and Alice just basically announced they were moving in. I still remember returning from my hunting trip to find most of my stuff moved to another room in the house and the rest shoved in the garage. But they both fit right into our family like they had always been there.

I felt Jasper enter the room and walk over to us. Alice instantly moved away from me and into his arms. He never said much but you could feel the love that radiated from him for her. I looked up and when our eyes met, I nodded to him. He whispered something in Alice's ear and she looked over at me blushing.

"Jasper wants me to leave you alone now."

"Ok Alice. We'll talk more tomorrow."

"Later Alice. Jasper."

I turned back to the piano as they left the room, thinking about what Alice had said. If it was my "destiny" as Alice maintained, I guess I will just have to go with the flow of things. I knew that I had almost mastered my bloodlust for her. Not to say that I didn't want to taste her, she was after all my own personal brand of heroin but I knew that I could resist. Talking to her had helped and I had the weekend before I had to see her again. I would take every opportunity to hunt this weekend to make sure I could stay in control. As for the other lust I was feeling, well if I was going to even think about pursuing that, I was going to have to find out if it was reciprocated.

I sat at the piano for a while, just winging it when I suddenly felt this overpower feeling of terror. It was gone as soon as it came but the feeling stayed with me for a while. Where the hell had that come from? I had never felt that kind of powerful feeling before when it wasn't my own. I sat there for a few minutes but nothing else happened. I finally just headed up to my room and listened to some music.


	16. Conundrum, Chapter 15

I do not own and didn't create the world of Twilight, just taking the characters out for a walk.

A/N – I got this chapter done before I lose my brain matter to the awesomeness of Sam Bradley :-) I will try to do at least one more if not two before I leave for Vancouver on Sept 25th

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Conundrum - Chapter Fifteen

Bella's POV

Well, the weekend was certainly interesting. I made dinner for Billy, Jake, Charlie and myself on Saturday night. I was glad that they avoided all talk about the shape-shifting and Jake didn't bring up the subject of vampires either, although I could still see questions in his eyes when he looked at me. I was starting to think that although he was aware that there were vampires back in the area of Forks, he didn't actually know who they were.

I wasn't about to enlighten him as to who they were either. The Cullens had done nothing to me other than to be kind, for the most part, thinking of that first day with Edward and I wasn't going to get Jake's back up about them if I could help it. I had spent the weekend thinking about Alice and Edward and what them being vampires meant to me and our friendship.

I still couldn't wrap my head around that the first guy I ever felt an inkling of attraction to, turns out to be a freaking vampire. After Jake and Billy had left, I decided to use the laptop Charlie had gotten for me to do some research online. I found the old Quileute "legends". I actually found it slightly humorous that the stories I was reading were, in fact, true. There were probably a lot of people that had read these over the years not even dreaming that they weren't just stories. I wonder what they would think if they ever came face to face with one of the stories? They'd probably have fatal heart attacks or something.

I was utterly fascinated by all the legends of the tribe I was descended from. Not only the ones about the shape-shifters but those of the cold ones and others. I got so absorbed in the stories it was 3am before I went to bed that night. It was a good thing I didn't have to get up in the morning. Charlie tended to let me sleep in on Sundays and fended for himself for breakfast.

Angela called on Sunday afternoon and asked if I wanted to go to the matinee. Things still weren't happening with her and Ben and I was pretty sure she wanted to talk about it. I knew she wanted it to happen but I think Ben just wasn't in a place to want to be in a relationship. Even though I had only been in the school for a couple of weeks now, I could see that the group of boys that hung around with Mike Newton were trying to be some sort of playboys. "Dating",using the turn lightly, any girl that they even had a small amount of interest in and making marks on their bedposts. I really didn't want Angela to be just that to Ben. I kept trying to steer her away now that I had actually met him. I was sure that there was a guy out there somewhere for her that would treat her with the respect she deserved. I knew that Mike was already getting pissed off at me that I was showing absolutely no interested in him. By the end of 2 weeks, he had started making snide remarks to those standing around him whenever I happened to pass by. Like I wanted to have anything to do with someone that acted like that and besides, all my thoughts, and hormones, were concentrated on Edward Cullen.

I wondered what would happen if he ever found out what I was. How would he react?

We went and saw the latest Harry Potter film and I couldn't help but wonder whether witches were real too. I laughed and Angela gave me a funny look.

After the movie we went over to the diner. I called Charlie and asked him if it was okay if I just had dinner with Angela. I explained that Angela needed some girl talk time and he immediately said it wasn't a problem. Girl stuff made Charlie more than a little uncomfortable.

We talked about Ben for a while and what a complete ass Mike and the other guys were. She finally agreed with me that she could do better than Ben if he was going to be a part of Mike's group of friends. We left diner around 8pm and I headed home. I didn't have any homework so I just sat in the living room with Charlie for a while before heading to my room. I decided to listen to some music for a while and once again drifted off to sleep with my I-pod on.

Edward's POV

I had spent the weekend hunting with Emmett and talking to him about Bella and everything Carlisle had told Alice and I on Friday. Being Emmett, he thought it was just fucking hilarious that I was lusting after a "dog" as he put it. I wasn't finding it so humorous myself. I knew he wasn't going to let that one alone for sure. He absolutely loved teasing the rest of us about anything he could. Giving him this ammunition was not the smartest thing I could have done but it wouldn't have sat well with me if we had kept what Bella was to ourselves. We were a family and whatever happened, we were in this together.

We all headed to school Monday morning as usual. We were back to our regular routine that we had had all during the fall semester. We took my car and Emmett rode shotgun while Alice, Rose and Jasper scrunched into the back seat. I parked in my usual spot noticing that Bella hadn't shown up yet. I wasn't sure if I was pleased about that or worried. I took a few breathes (that I didn't really need) to calm myself. Bella was usually at the school way before we showed up. Alice said it was so she could walk across the parking lot to the school without tripping or slipping on the ice and embarrassing herself in front of half the school. It was rather strange that we had beat her here. Just as we were getting out of the car, I heard her truck pull in. I turned to watch her park on the other side of the parking lot. The parking lot hadn't been salted yet this morning and I watched her get out of the truck. As she did she lost her footing and grabbed the side of the truck and righted herself. I was just turning away to head into the school when I heard a screech of brakes and turned back in time to see Tyler's van hit a patch of black ice. He seemed to lose control of the van and it was starting to slide across the parking lot, straight towards Bella and her truck. I head Alice gasp and without even thinking, I ran across the parking lot towards her with vampiric speed. The next thing I knew I was standing between Bella's truck and the van that was sliding towards me. Bella was not there. I looked around and saw that she was now in the back of the truck getting ready to jump off the other side. Well, I certainly just did something completely fucking stupid for nothing. It seemed Bella was capable of taking care of herself no matter how accident prone she was.

As she jumped down to the other side of the truck, she turned back and saw me standing there with the van still heading towards me. She gasped and I realized I had to get out of there. I didn't want to give myself a row for a second time since there was now quite the crowd coming towards us, so I dropped and rolled underneath Bella's truck and crawled out the other side just as Tyler's van impacted the truck.

Bella looked at me as I sat up next to her. She didn't seem to be at all surprised to see me there. She opened her mouth to say something just as a crowd of people swarmed around us.

"Bella! Edward! Are you two okay? How did you guys get over here so fast?" The questions were coming at us fast and furious from all directions.

The next little bit was complete chaos. Someone had called an ambulance but luckily Chief Swan had showed up before they could cart Bella off to the hospital. He told the attendants that he would have a Dr check her out if there were any problems. I just told them that I was fine and that I'd go see Carlisle at the end of the day. They knew better than to argue with me. I had a reputation for being pretty stubborn.

The principal suggested that Bella and I take the rest of the day off to recover from the "shock". We exchanged shrugs and went with it.

"Bella, it seems your truck is the worse for wear because of Tyler. Would you like a ride home?" Alice and the rest gave me a funny look, possibly wondering if I had lost my mind. I shrugged at them. If I was going to deal with Bella, there was no time like the present to start.

Bella's POV

Holy Shit! That did not just happen! Crap! Did anyone see me jump into the back of the truck? Did Edward? Crap! And my truck! I was going to fucking KILL Tyler! How could he be so fucking careless? He came into the parking lot way too fast and now, no more truck. I was not impressed. It was just another reason to really not like Mike Newton's crowd of guys. They were just fucking stupid!

And Edward! Crap! He raced over to me faster than the speed of light. Or at least that's how it looked. I hope no one saw that either! It seemed Alice wasn't the only one that was dropping their guard.

At least Charlie arrived to make sure I wasn't taken to the hospital. That was the last thing we needed. There was no way to explain my physical ambiguities to the hospital staff. I was never so glad to have the pull of the Chief of Police behind me than now. Edward got out of going because of his "father" but then I knew that would probably happen. Even after only a couple of weeks, I knew that Edward didn't do anything he didn't want to anyway.

When Edward offered to drive me home after the principal told us to take the rest of the day to get over the shock, I was surprised. I looked at Charlie and he seemed to be preoccupied dealing with Tyler. I nodded at Edward but told him that I just had to let my dad know where I was going.

Charlie thought it was a great idea since he was going to be a while clearing up the mess Tyler had made. I walked back towards Edward and noticed that Alice had now joined him. As a approached them, she grabbed me a a big hug almost squeezing the breath out of me.

I tapped her back, "Alice, can't breathe" I wheezed.

She let go quickly and gave me a little smile.

"I am so happy you are okay! That was quick thinking to jump up into the back of the truck!"

I snorted, "There was no thinking involved. I think I just reacted because the next thing I knew, I was in the back of the truck. It must have been an adrenalin rush."

I had decided not to mention what Edward did. I was sure they wouldn't want attention drawn to the way he got to beside my truck so fast since we still had quite a crowd around us.

I looked at Edward and nodded towards his car, "can we go? I think I'm crashing from the adrenalin." In fact, I just wanted to get away from the crowd of people. I was not one to like being the centre of attention.

He looked startled for a minute and nodded. We headed to the car after giving Alice another quick hug. We walked past my truck and Tyler's van to get to Edward's car. I couldn't stop staring at the mesh of metal his van had become. My truck was older and more solid. It was badly damaged but Tyler's took the brunt of the accident. As we got closer to Edward's car, I could feel my hands start to shake. I put my hands in my pocket so that no one could see.

Edward opened the passenger door for me, then went around to the driver's side. He drove effortlessly at a high rate of speed. I should have been nervous over the speed but I wasn't. I was, however, shaking more and more as we got closer to home.

Edward kept looking over me. His eyes were getting darker as we drove. I was looking out the window when I heard his melodious voice.

"Are you okay, Bella? You're shaking."

"I'll be fine, Edward. I think the shock is just setting in now."

We were pulling into my driveway now. "Would you like me to come in for a few minutes?"

I thought about it for probably 10 seconds and mumbled, "sure, if you want to."

He parked behind Charlie's truck and we headed into the house. As I walked towards the kitchen to grab something to drink, the phone started ringing. It was Charlie checking to make sure I got home alright.

"Yeah Dad, I'm home. Edward's come in for a few minutes to keep me company."

"_Sounds good, Bells. See if he'll stay until I get home. I really don't want you to be alone right now."_

"Alright Dad. I'll ask him."

We said goodbye and I hung up the phone turning to find Edward standing right behind me.

"Uhm, Charlie wants to know if you would be willing to stay with me until he gets home. Apparently he doesn't want me to be alone."

Edward gave me a funny look but agreed to stay.

"Would you like to watch TV or something?"

"Sure, we could do that." He turned and walked back toward the living room. I followed and grabbed the remote off the coffee table.

He stopped right in front of me and, of course, I slammed right into his back. He whipped around fast and caught me before I hit the ground. The moment he touched me, I felt an electrical force race through my blood, felt my breathe caught and I could feel my skin flush.

"I'm sorry." We both said at the same time.

He held my shoulders until I had my feet under me and let go. I noticed as I turned away he was looking at his hands strangely, like he did before when we touched. I was wondering if he had also felt the electricity I had.

We sat on the couch and watched a DVD that was already in the player, I hadn't realized that Charlie had Johnny Depp movies. I'd have to look through his DVDs and see if he had others. Johnny was one of my favourite actors.

I looked over at Edward and saw him watching me instead of the movie. I gave him a questioning look.

"Is something wrong?"

His eyes met mine and said, "no, nothing. I was just trying to figure you out. You're very hard for me to read."

"What were you trying to figure out?"

"Well, not even 2 hours ago, you were almost squished by a van and I knew you were starting to shake on the drive here. Now, you're sitting here with me watching a DVD like nothing happened."

"Oh. Well, I tend to ignore bad things that happen."

"You do what?"

"Ignore them. Pretend they don't happen. It helps me cope."

" Alright. That's a bit different isn't it?"

"I don't know. It's just what I always do. I have ever since I was a child. What about you? What do you do to cope with bad things?"

Just as I asked the question, I heard a car door slam out front. Damn, Charlie was already home and just as I was starting to get Edward to talk to me. Edward got to his feet and headed towards the door. He opened it just as Charlie got to it. Charlie smiled at Edward and thanked him for staying with me. Edward avoided shaking Charlie's hand by pretending to cough and just smiled and told him it was no problem. He turned back to me and smiled.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school, Bella." He turned and walked out the door.

"Yeah, school tomorrow." I called after him.


	17. Accident Aftermath, Part 1, Chapter 16

I do not own and didn't create the world of Twilight, just taking the characters out for a walk.

A/N – Well looky here, I got another chapter done before I lose my brain matter to the awesomeness of Sam Bradley  I actually may get a few chapters written between now and Sept 25th! Lucky you LOL

The Accident Aftermath - Chapter Sixteen

Edward's POV

I couldn't believe how out of control today got and it wasn't even over yet. I was so glad that Charlie actually turned up only a couple of hours after Bella and I got to her house. The last thing I needed was to get into a whole question and answer session with her. It was bad enough that I think she saw how fast I moved to "rescue" her this morning. I shook my head laughing. That was such a smooth move. Why did I even think that a shape-shifter would need my help?

I didn't think I'd ever get used to that electrical shock that seems to happen every time we touch either. It really did take all my restraint to not just grab her and kiss her. If I could go back and re-think offering to give her a ride home, I would have but I had this overwhelming need to make sure she was okay. I was becoming very protective of Bella.

I headed straight home from her house and went to find Esme as soon as I got in. I knew she would listen to me objectively. Carlisle seemed to be more interested in Bella's shape-shifter genetics, Alice was all about her being her BFF and a part of our family, Emmett just wanted to make jokes, Rose couldn't care less unless it affected her somehow and Jasper was willing to listen but basically told me it was my decision. I knew Esme would actually try to give me some advice on how to proceed. I had somehow overcome the bloodlust through sheer will. I honestly didn't know I had it in me. Her scent still affected me but it seemed to now feed my lust for her body instead of her blood. I wanted her badly. The past week had been extremely hard on my libido and I still didn't have a clue as to whether she was affected by me or not. There were a couple of times in the past week where I thought she might be as drawn to me as I was to her. There was this pull between us, like we were each half of a whole. She would look at me in a certain way when she thought I couldn't see her, a way that made me think that she was having the same cravings as I was. I could sometimes sense her arousal, her scent would change slightly. I still found it very odd that her scent didn't actually disgust me like the shape-shifters from decades ago did. Instead, her scent enticed me, made me want her more and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to hold out against this yearning in me much longer. I couldn't stop myself from fantasizing about what I really wanted to do with her when I was sitting next to her in biology and it didn't help when I could read the thoughts of the boys in the school having some of the same fantasies. I only hoped I could hold myself in check and not kill one of these silly human boys. I found myself not only wanting to protect Bella, I also had become very possessive of her, in my mind at least. I was pretty sure I had Jasper to thank for the fact that I hadn't gone on a murderous rampage and killed every male human in the school that had even looked at her. I'd never had these feelings before. Even when I'd had relationships, if you could call them that, with other vampires, I had never felt this depth of lust that I did for Bella right now.

I found Esme in the back garden. She spent a lot of time there tending the various flowers she'd planted. As I approached her, she looked up at me with a loving smile. I considered myself very lucky to be a part of Carlisle and Esme's family. Others considered a group of vampires a coven, but our group had always been more of a family. It had started out with just Carlisle, Esme and I before Carlisle turned Rosalie and then she found Emmett. Years later, Jasper and Alice joined us out of the blue and it had been just the 7 of us ever since.

"Hello Edward. Did you have a good day?"

Obviously she hadn't heard about the almost squished Bella and I incident today. I explained what happened and she got up to give me a hug.

"I'm sure your efforts were very valiant." She said with a small smile.

I laughed. "Yeah, my efforts were useless. Why would a shape-shifter need the assistance of a vampire? But all I could think of at the moment was 'not her'. Esme, I'm really not sure I can handle the feelings she's invoking in me. I feel possessive when I hear the thoughts of all the human boys around her, I feel very protective of her and I want her so badly it hurts."

It felt very strange to talk to Esme about this. I'd never needed advice on my sex life before, but then I had never wanted a human or shape-shifter or whatever the hell Bella was in all my years of being a vampire. In my human life as a teenager, I'd felt lust but had never acted on it. In that era, you just didn't do that before you were married and my birth mother, Elizabeth, had raised me to be the epitome of a gentleman. After being turned, it was several years before I actually thought about that side of my life. I was too busy trying to overcome the bloodlust of being a newborn vampire, even though I did go through a rebellious stage and left Carlisle and Esme for a while. I only hunted criminals during that time, never an innocent. Eventually I returned to my family and had never strayed from them again.

Esme gave me another little hug and another smile. I knew she was trying hard not to laugh at me. Sometimes it really sucked being able to read the other's minds, but the one advantage is that you can have a conversation without the others really knowing what is being said. It drove Emmett nuts when I did that, he hated being out of the loop about anything.

Esme and I hung out in the back yard for awhile. She tried to reassure me that everything would be fine. That I would figure out how to deal with my feelings and yearning for Bella without actually killing anyone. She said to trust in Alice's visions and myself more and to relax. Yeah okay. Relax. That was going to take a fucking miracle. I was at the point of so much sexual frustration that I wished alcohol or even recreational drugs actually had an affect on me. But, of course, being vampire, neither did.

It was after talking to Esme that I made my decision. I was going to woo Bella. Yeah, go ahead and laugh. I can do it, if I put my mind to it. I haven't lived this long without learning something. Alright, so I've only been involved with other vampires, but I can read. I'll just have to research the subject of how to woo a human. I wonder if the same techniques will work on a shape-shifter. Did I happen to mention that I'm really stubborn?

Having made this momentous decision, I raced up to my room and hopped online. Okay, so what do I put in the search bar to Google the subject? Wooing? I spent the next couple of hours googling all sorts of words related to trying to win a girl and laughing my ass off. My family came in at various times to see what the hell was so funny but I was usually laughing so hard, I couldn't even speak. I'm pretty sure that they thought I'd gone off the deep end. Well, all except Alice. She just came in, looked over my shoulder and shook her head. It just so happened at the time she looked, I was reading some silly ass fake interview about some actor and his best friend. Some people just had way too much time on their hands.

Once I got past the hilarity of the stuff I was finding online, I started to find some really good articles. At least they were giving me some ideas. I was beginning to think it might be better to do this wooing thing from a distance to start with. For instance, if I could find out her email address or her yahoo account, I could start to talk to her through that. It would certainly prevent my instincts from taking over and something bad happening.

There was a knock on the door and before I could say anything, it flung open to let in the whirlwind that was Alice in the room. She had a big grin on her face and she stood there jumping up and down.

_I have Bella's email and yahoo._

She was pretty much yelling the information to me in her mind. I quickly added the information she was broadcasting into my contacts and then sat there looking at my computer screen. I didn't have a Yahoo account, everyone I talked to was right here in the same house as I was, so I'd have to set something up.

Alice suddenly walked over and shoved me out of the way. I watched as she downloaded Yahoo Messenger and setup an email account. Nice she decided my username too, ecullen. Well at least she didn't use some stupid handle. That was something I could actually remember. She added Bella and herself to my friends list, gave me a wink and sped off out of the room. Sometimes it was like living with Taz.

Okay, well. Now that that part of my plan was completed, thanks to Alice, I sat back down and stared at the screen. I noticed that Bella was already listed so she must not have to approve any friend adds or she was already online. Except her name was faded like she was offline. I hadn't used this Yahoo thing before but I had seen Alice use it.

Should I send her a message now? What should I say? _Just send her a message asking if she's okay after this morning, you idiot._

"Thanks Alice! I was getting there!" I yelled, pretty sure she could hear me. This was going to be annoying if Alice was going to stick her nose into everything I did with Bella. I could hear Emmett snicker in his head and I really wished this telepathy thing worked both ways so I could tell him to Fuck off.

I clicked on Bella's name and sent a quick message "**Hey, this is Edward. Alice added you to my Yahoo. Hope you're doing okay after today's incident."**

There, that didn't sound too bad. Not stalker-like or anything. I even got to blame Alice for being able to send her a message. This might just be the way to go.

I was just turning away from my computer figuring I wouldn't get any type of response since she didn't appear to be online when the tone went off. I spun around in my chair. If my heart actually beat, I am sure it would have been racing with excitement. She answered!

**Hey Edward. I'm okay. Thanks for asking. I think the shock has worn off. Thanks for the ride home. I really appreciated it. I really had to get away from everyone. I really can't stand getting so much attention.**

It was odd to see a beautiful girl who didn't like being the centre of attention. I mean, that was all that ever crossed Lauren and Jessica's minds. Hell, even Tanya and Rose were like that.

**Glad I could be of assistance, Bella, and glad to hear there aren't any lasting affects. **Oh for fuck's sake, I was sounding like I had something stuck up my ass. Why can't I just talk to her like I can my family?

**So, Edward, you never answered my question before you left. **Ah crap, I didn't think she would continue with her questions. How should I answer her question. Should I answer how a human boy would or should I just answer like myself? I decided to go with as close to the truth as possible. It would just be easier that way.

**Well, Bella, I guess I tend to face bad things head on. If it's really bad, I talk about it with my family. If not, I can usually sort things out on my own. I don't avoid it though. **

**Oh. **That's all she said. I began to wonder if she wasn talking about the almost accident this morning or something completely different. Was she dealing with something that she hadn't discussed with anyone, including Alice? I know she had just met Alice, but they seemed to have gotten quite close really quickly. I'd be surprised if there were things that they hadn't talked about.

Then a light bulb went on. Okay, I can be a bit dense sometimes, slow on the uptake, whatever. Maybe it had something to do with her shape-shifting!? But what?

**Are you still there? If you need someone to talk to, Bella, I'm sure Alice would listen. **I really wanted to offer my services as a listener but after the first day of school and the way I reacted to her, I didn't think she was to the point to trust me yet. I was also hoping that by getting her to talk to Alice, she might slip and tell her about the shape-shifting.

**Yeah, I'm still here Edward. Just talking with Alice as well but I think I am going to sign off and go get dinner started. **

**Okay Bella, I'll see you tomorrow then.**

**Yeah, Edward. Tomorrow.**

I waited a few minutes and she didn't say anything else so I logged off. I didn't feel like doing any more research so I opened up my Itunes to make sure I had downloaded everything I wanted from last week. What I didn't have on Itunes, I probably had on CD. Music was one of the few solaces I had in my endless eternity of no sleep.

I wondered what Bella did to relax and escape her life. I wondered if she felt the need to escape what she was like I sometimes did.

All the music was in my Itunes so I quickly downloaded it to my Ipod and put it in its docking station. I laid down on my bed and thought about what had happened today. I really hoped this decision I had made was the right one. I knew Alice was behind the plan 100% but I still couldn't help but feel that there was something we needed to know about the situation but didn't.

**Thanks for reading. I hoped you enjoyed Edward's POV. Next chapter is Bella's POV of the Accident Aftermath.**

**I am going to try and get a few chapters done between now and Sept 25****th**** then I will be gone to Vancouver to see Sam Bradley's show at VENUE. It usually takes a few days to get back into my routine after seeing one of the boys LOL **

**Happy reading and I hope you are enjoying the story :-)**


	18. Accident Aftermath, Part 2, Chapter 17

I do not own and didn't create the world of Twilight, just taking the characters out for some exercise.

A/N – Are you happy? I got another one done. LOL Welcome new followers of the story 

Here's Bella's side of the aftermath of the incident.

**________________________________________________________________**

The Accident Aftermath Part 2 - Chapter Seventeen

Bella's POV

I watched as Edward left as Charlie arrived, wondering if it was something I said. I hadn't thought he was too freaked out by the fact that I jumped out of the way of the van but maybe I was wrong. He'd offered me a ride home and had acted really concerned about whether I was hurt or not. I had seen how fast he reacted and knew that it was his vampire reflexes. I couldn't believe how the day had gone. I was kind of happy to be home and not have to deal with all the questions and concerns of all the othe students and teachers at the school but I wish Charlie hadn't decided to come home so early. I thought I had gotten Edward to the point he would answer some questions for me.

I'd started shaking after seeing how damaged both vehicles were. I wasn't sure if it was from shock or the aftermath of the adrenalin rush I had. When I saw the van sliding across the parking lot towards me, it was like my instincts for survival took over and I had this powerful rush of strength run through me. The next thing I knew I was in the back of the truck and then on the other side. As I turned, I realized that Edward was standing where I had been and Tyler's van was still heading towards him.

I realized then that I felt something more than desire for Edward but I almost felt paralyzed. I couldn't move. When he heard me gasp, he disappeared suddenly and I realized he had dropped and rolled underneath my truck. Pretty quick thinking since the van was coming at a very fast pace towards him.

When I had bumped into his back and he had held my shoulders, I didn't want him to let me go. I was so close to just throwing myself at him and kissing him but I wasn't sure if he felt any desire for me. He was really difficult to read. It was like he had this iron control over everything he did and I wasn't sure if I could break that control or not. I was disappointed when he broke our physical contact so soon. Opportunities to touch him were not really forthcoming and I wanted to take advantage of every time it happened. I just really had to admit to myself that I wanted Edward Cullen, vampire or not, and the trick was going to be figuring out a way I could have him.

I was wondering if Alice would help me with it. I knew she liked me and the week that Edward hadn't been in school, she had talked about how wonderful he really was and how he didn't really act the way he had in biology. That it was just because he was sick. Now that I had figured out their secret, I was pretty sure he hadn't been sick at all but that I was the reason he had stayed away from school He had been fine around all the other students before I arrived at the school, so the only logical reason for his reaction was me. I hadn't quite figured that one out yet but I would.

I wandered upstairs to my room and turned on my computer. Once Yahoo had logged in, I set myself to invisible. I wasn't really in the mood to deal with Angela today. I knew she would be worried but I'd talk to her in school tomorrow. I noticed Alice was online and so was Jake. I sent Jake a message to see if he was there but didn't get a response.

I decided to email my mom and let her know that I was okay, just in case Charlie decided she needed to know what happened and within minutes I knew I was right. He had called her. After reassuring her for 10 minutes, she finally settled down.

I was just getting up to go downstairs and start prepping for dinner when my Yahoo messenger went off. Someone wanted to add me as a friend. "ecullen" I was pretty sure it was Edward, I didn't think Emmett was much into the online computer scene. I quickly sent a message to Alice hoping she was actually at her computer asking if this ecullen was him. She instantly responded that yes it was Edward and that she had just set him up with Yahoo. I okay'd the friend request and sat back and waited for him to say something.

"**Hey, this is Edward. Alice added you to my Yahoo. Hope you're doing okay after today's incident."**

I chuckled after reading his message. An "Incident", well that was certainly one way to put it.

**Hey, Edward. I'm okay. Thanks for asking. I think the shock has worn off. Thanks for the ride home. I really appreciated it. I really had to get away from everyone. I really can't stand getting so much attention. **I replied to him right away.

I switched windows to my conversation with Alice, **Alice! Why is Edward messaging me? **

I got an answer right away. **Bella, he was just wondering if you were okay after the accident so I told him to send you a message on Yahoo. I set him up and gave him your information. Hope it was okay.**

**I guess, **I replied. I didn't really know what to say to that. Edward was worried about me? Did that mean he actually liked me? I kinda got that he wanted me, it was slightly obvious. It wasn't like men could hide their attraction to us women. And even though I was a "gag" virgin, I knew that wanting to have sex with someone didn't necessary mean that you liked them. It was a physical response sometimes. But Edward was actually trying to have some kind of conversation with me. Switching back to Edward's window, I saw he had replied again, **Glad I could be of assistance, Bella, and glad to hear there aren't any lasting affects.**

Okay, well. That was pretty formal sounding.

**So, Edward, you never answered my question before you left. **If he wanted to talk, maybe I could get him to answer the question he all but ran out on when Charlie arrived home.

It was a few minutes before he replied with **Well, Bella, I guess I tend to face bad things head on. If it's really bad, I talk about it with my family. If not, I can usually sort things out on my own. I don't avoid it though.**

All I could think of to say was **Oh. **It would actually be sort of nice to talk about this shape-shifter stuff with someone. Charlie really wasn't comfortable talking about it at all. He would probably like it if it just disappeared which wasn't going to happen. I could talk to Billy but I didn't really feel comfortable talking to him about it. And Jake was gone so much hanging out with the pack that I rarely saw or talked to him anymore. I was more than surprised when he had shown up over the weekend and actually came to dinner with his dad. I'd have thought he would have bailed in favour of patrolling or something.

I guess it took me longer to reply than I thought or maybe because the next message I received said, **Are you still there? If you need someone to talk to, Bella, I'm sure Alice would listen.**

I'd actually considered talking to Alice about what I was going through since I realized her and her family were vampires. I just wasn't sure how she would react and I didn't want to lose my friend over it. I knew that she must know by now what the Quileutes were and that they were created to kill vampires. Would she still want me to be friends with something that could potentially hurt her? Angela was a good friend but I had the feeling that Alice would probably be able to relate to me in ways Angela couldn't. Yeah well, it didn't take a genius to figure that one out, now did it?

I didn't really know how to respond to that so I just said the first thing that popped into my head. **Yeah, I'm still here Edward. Just talking with Alice as well but I think I am going to sign off and go get dinner started. **

He let me go with that. I'm sure he didn't really believe me. I switched to Alice's window and pretty much told her the same thing. I signed off and headed downstairs. Since I'd used it as an excuse, I figured I might as well go get dinner on the go. Charlie was still downstairs watching TV. He'd decided to stay home with me instead of going back to the office. He looked over as I reached the bottom of the stairs, sighed and stood up. He came over and gave me a hug, which was really out of character for him. He wasn't usually that demonstrative.

"That was a close one Bella." I could tell by the tone of his voice that he had been sitting there thinking of how much worse it could have been without my shape-shifting reflexes kicking in.

"I know, Dad. Guess it's a good thing that I am a Quileute descendant now, isn't it." I tried to laugh it off.

He leaned back and looked at me for a moment and gave a small smile. He let me go and walked back to his favourite chair.

"So. that was Edward Cullen?"

"Yeah Dad. He's Alice's brother."

"Oh, yes. Dr. Cullen's kids. They seem like good kids. We haven't had a lick of trouble from them since they moved to the area. Unlike some of the others around here."

"They all seem really nice, Dad." We were silent for a few minutes. It appeared Charlie had run out of things to say. I cleared my throat and started heading to the kitchen. "I'll go prep for dinner."

"Bella, you don't have to cook tonight. I'll order some pizza or something."

"No, that's okay Dad, I need something to do."

"Alright Bells, I'm just going to turn on the game."

I smiled to myself as I entered the kitchen, Charlie and his sports. I was sort of surprised that Billy hadn't been over more to watch with him. I knew for a fact that before I moved here they were inseparable. I shrugged, hopefully I wasn't the cause of them not hanging out together.

I got out the vegetables to cut up to go with the pot roast I decided to throw in for dinner. My mind wandered again to Edward and the feel of him when he touched me earlier. I suddenly was brought out of my thoughts by pain. I looked down and saw that I had cut my finger. Great! As soon as I saw the blood, I started to get whoozy. Bella + blood = not a good thing. I had always had the same reaction to blood. I could taste the copper of it and as soon as my senses did that, I passed out.

I dropped the knife and grabbed the counter, trying to stay on my feet.

"DAD!"

Just as I yelled, Charlie came bounding into the room. "Bella! Are you okay?"

I just managed to get out "cut finger" before passing out on him.

The next thing I knew I was waking up in a place with very bright overhead lights. I groggily opened my eyes and kept them from looking at my hand. Turning my head, I could see Charlie sitting next to where I was laying. As my eyes focused I realized I was at the hospital. I opened my eyes wide. Oh. My. Gods. He did not just bring me to a hospital did he? What if someone notices how fast I heal? I turned my head quickly the other way and realized there was a man with his back to me looking at a chart. He must have realized I was awake and he started to turn towards me. He was gorgeous. Pale, blonde, beautiful. He smiled at me as he realized I was looking at me.

"Well, the patient is awake." His voice was musical, just like Edward and Alice's. It didn't take a brick falling on my head for me to figure out that this must be Dr. Cullen.

"Dr. Cullen!" I squeaked out.

Charlie's head whipped up, suddenly realizing I was indeed awake and he sprang to his feet. "Bella! You scared me half to death!"

"Well, you apparently cut your finger and passed out. But I don't see much of a cut or anything. There was some blood but not a lot." Dr Cullen answered the question I hadn't asked yet.

"Oh, yeah. Blood doesn't agree with me. It smells funny."

Dr Cullen looked at me rather strangely. Almost like he knew something. I wasn't sure it that would be a good thing or not. If the Cullens already knew what I was, it meant I didn't have to say anything. I could wait to see what they did. It also meant that if Alice knew, it didn't change how she felt about me. She still wanted to be my friend. That felt kind of good. I knew I could always rely on Jake to be there for me but it was nice to know that there would be someone else as well. I wasn't exactly sure how the rest of the wolf pack felt about those of us that may or may not be full shape-shifters because I hadn't had a chance to be out on the reservation with them as of yet. I realized I was just staring at Dr Cullen. I averted my eyes and blushed.

"Well Bella. Everything seems to be okay. Your cut doesn't seem that bad but I would like to just draw some blood and make sure all is well. I'll draw the blood myself."

I turned my head away from him and held my breath as he gently took hold of my arm and proceeded to draw some blood. The last thing I needed was to pass out on Charlie again. I looked over at him and he was looking pretty stressed. I gave him a reassuring smile and he smiled back.

"I'm fine, Dad. You know I heal pretty fast. Must be good genetics, right?"

Charlie looked startled for a moment. "All from your mother's side of the family I'm sure, Bells"

Dr Cullen finished taking the blood and told me to just take it easy for the night. Charlie pulled the car around and he stopped at the Pizza Parlour on the way home.

When we got home, he told me to go sit on the couch while he cleaned up the kitchen and got plates for the pizza. We ate in silence and afterwards I decided to just say goodnight and head to bed. I had some stuff to think about now.

Dr Cullen acted strange tonight, almost like he knew something about me. If he did, maybe I could be open with Alice and talk to her about the feelings I was having about Edward. Would she think it too weird to talk about her brother? I drifted off to sleep thinking about Edward.

Feel free to Twitter me at mahika ha .. that just sounds naughty LOL


	19. Chemistry Chapter 18

I do not own and didn't create the world of Twilight, just taking the characters out for some exercise.

A/N – Welcome even more new followers of the story. Hope you're enjoying it.

A gift to you all. I got Chapter 18 done for you!

Please feel free to let me know what you think of it. Criticism is more than welcome.

**________________________________________________________________**

Chemistry - Chapter Eighteen

Edward's POV

Carlisle waylaid me as I was heading out to hunt before going to school. He told me about Bella being at the hospital and what had happened to her. I was beginning to think that if there was an accident to be had, it would happen around or to Bella. It was probably a good thing that she wasn't just human or I might have a full time job keeping her alive. He also told me that he managed to get a blood sample from her and besides the standard tests; he was going to run some others to see if he could figure out how different Bella actually was. The mystery may soon be solved.

Alice came around the corner just as he was telling me and almost broke our eardrums squealing. She stood next to Carlisle bouncing up and down like she wanted to talk to him.

I was afraid to ask what she was going on about now, so I just shook my head and left them to their conversation. By the time I got back to the house, it was time to head to the school. It was so much easier to be near Bella after I'd hunted. We could go days, sometimes weeks, without having to hunt normally, but being around her was just too difficult even with the self control I had discovered within me. At least there was one craving I could control.

We piled into the cars and arrived just before 1st bell. Bella was waiting for Alice as we pulled in and I sat in the car for a few minutes trying to get my other reaction to her under control. I was getting tired of having to hide my physical reaction to her everyday. Emmett was finding it a great source of amusement but I was beginning to think that I might have to find another outlet besides jacking off every night. It certainly wasn't helping stave off my reaction to her every time I even caught a glimpse or thought of her. I wondered if I should just give Tanya a call and see if she wanted to meet somewhere.

Just as the thought came into my head, Alice turned around and glared at me. I swear that girl could actually read my mind sometimes. I got out of the car still looking at Alice and shrugged my shoulders. It was just a thought. How would she feel if she was a guy and was this affected by a girl? Blue balls are not fun. She had the audacity to stick her tongue out at me.

I followed behind everyone as we entered the school. It gave me a perfect view of Bella's ass, to be honest. The only problem was that all the other young hormonal assholes in the school were also looking at it too. I had to resist the urge to go up and stake my claim right in front of them all. I could feel the possessiveness I felt for her become overwhelming but as suddenly as it started, it stopped. I looked over and saw Jasper staring at me. He was using his special gift on me. For once, I didn't actually mind it.

We all went our separate ways. Luckily, I wouldn't have to actually see Bella until lunch when I was sure Alice would make sure she sat at our table.

Alice's POV

When we got to the school, I saw Bella waiting for me and ran right over to her. I knew Jasper wouldn't mind. He actually understood a lot more about my visions that the others did. I knew that beyond a doubt, no matter what decisions Bella and Edward made, they would end up together and I would have Bella in my life for a very long time. Carlisle had explained what happened last night with Bella and that he had taken some blood to do some tests.

"Bella! What happened last night?"

"Er, what are you talking about Alice?"

"Carlisle said you were at the hospital. Are you okay?"

"Oh that. Its fine Alice, I just cut my finger and passed out from the smell of the blood."

"Wait a minute, you can smell blood?"

Bella looked startled when I asked, "Well, yeah. It smells coppery. Can't everyone?"

"Actually, according to Carlisle, no. You must be really unusual Bella!"

I was hoping that by bringing up that she was different, she might open up to me a little faster than what my visions had told me she would. I knew that eventually she was going to ask me about Edward and I couldn't wait to rat him out. Okay, that was mean. But I really want those two to get together. Not that I was complaining too much since Edward's sexual frustrations were having a wonderful effect on Jasper's libido and I was reaping the benefits. As my thoughts drifted to last night, I giggled.

Bella looked at me funny but didn't comment. Suddenly I got a picture of Edward and Tanya in my head and turned to glare at Edward. I knew the minute he realized I had figured out what he might be planning to do. He shrugged and I stuck my tongue out at him. I knew he was getting really frustrated with the lack of information he had regarding Bella, the raging lust and whether she was having the same feelings as he was but that would definitely not be the way to deal with it. Tanya wasn't all sunshine and roses and even just having sex with her could make things a lot more complicated than they needed to be.

I had thought that his decision to woo Bella, I giggled again, would have helped him channel his frustrations into a game plan. I might just have to try and talk to Bella and speed things up a bit.

Bella and I reached one of the few classes we had together and grabbed our usual table at the back of the room. It gave us a little privacy since we both discovered we already knew the material the teacher was instructing us in.

"So, Bella, you and Edward talked a bit last night, huh?"

"Yeah, Alice, we talked for a few minutes."

"Bella, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Do you like Edward?"

She appeared to be stunned for a minute and blushed. "Ah yeah. He seems nice enough."

It appeared I would have to be more direct to get the response I wanted. "No Bella. Do you LIKE Edward?"

She looked away from me and her blush became deeper.

"Okay. From the look on your face, I am going to assume that you do."

"Alice, why would you ask that? Has he said something about me?"

Now I had a decision to make. I could tell that she really did like Edward in that way but should I be the one to tell her that he was interested in her as well? I decided to play it by ear.

"He just mentioned that you had a bit of a conversation last night on Yahoo."

She blushed again and I smiled. Yeah, she really liked Edward. This was going to be interesting to watch. I wondered if sex between a shape-shifter and a vampire was any different than between vampires. I snorted. I guess I would find out soon enough since my visions weren't selective. I knew it was going to be but hadn't seen it yet. At least she was stronger than a human and wouldn't be harmed too badly during the act, if at all.

I pulled my thoughts away from that avenue since I wouldn't be able to be with Jasper anytime soon. One thing about us vampires, we were passionate about our mates.

The morning went on as usual and we all met up at our usual table for lunch. I grabbed Jasper and gave him a deep kiss. He looked at me a bit strangely but I just whispered "Later" in his ear and he got the drift.

I saw Bella enter the room and raced over to grab her and drag her back to the table. I made her sit next to me, across from Edward. I wanted to see how she reacted to him. I could see right off that I was on the right tract, as soon as he looked up and smiled a hello at Bella, she started fidgeting in her chair like she suddenly couldn't get comfortable. I smirked and turned to smile at Jasper. I knew the feeling very well.

Bella's POV

To say that the day was going strangely would be putting it mildly. First there was some sort of silent conversation between Edward and Alice in the morning. She appeared to be almost angry at him for a few minutes. Then in class, she started asking me if I liked him. I was sure I turned a bright red when she asked. I wasn't quite sure what to say but I'm sure she figured it out. I wondered if she was going to tell him or not. Then when I walked into the cafeteria, she grabbed me and made me sit across from him.

He looked up at me from the book he appeared to be reading and gave me a smile. The crooked smile I have only seen once before when he apologized to me in biology class. I loved that smile. I felt a bolt of electricity shoot through my body as our eyes met and I shifted uncomfortably on the chair. All of a sudden his eyes widened and he looked over at Alice. He looked swiftly away and shifted in his chair like he was suddenly uncomfortable as well.

Alice kept watching us. What she was waiting for I didn't know but she had a smile on her face all through lunch and every time she looked at Edward, it turned into a smirk. She knew something and I was getting more and more curious about what it could be. At one point I looked at her and caught her staring at me. I looked at her questioningly and she just smiled and looked at Jasper. She would touch his hand or his face and he would smile gently. Emmett just looked like he was watching a tennis game and couldn't figure out who was winning. He looked back and forth between me, Alice and Edward with a puzzled look on his face. Rose pretty much ignored us all whenever she was near Emmett. Her eyes were always riveted to him. He appeared to be the centre of her world and everything else just didn't matter.

I sighed. I wished Edward would look at me like that. Wait. Where the hell did that come from? Lunch period didn't last long enough. It was becoming my favourite time of the school day. I could sit near Edward and watch him surreptitiously without him being aware of it. I tried to make sure I was the last to leave the table, just so I could watch him walk away. I loved how he glided along so gracefully when he walked. This day, however, was different. He didn't get up as soon as the bell rang like he usually did. He just sat at the table reading his book. I looked over at Alice and saw she was watching Edward herself with a puzzled look on her face. She shrugged and got up, grabbing my arm as we headed out. I stopped a few feet away from the table and turned back.

"Edward, are you coming?"

He looked up with that crooked smile and my legs almost gave way when his eyes met mine. His beautiful honey golden eyes drew me in. I couldn't look away.

"No Bella, I'm taking this class off."

I looked at him puzzled, he never skipped classes and we had a special biology class scheduled next. The Pro D day at the end of the week messed up everyone's schedules and because some of the classes scheduled that day were too important for the students to miss, the school had rearranged our schedules this week.

"Okay. I guess I'll see you later then." I turned away to start heading out of the room again. The rest had already disappeared to their classes.

"Uhm, Bella."

I turned back, "Yes, Edward?"

"You might want to skip the class as well. I already know what they're doing."

"Skip class? Why would I do that?"

"Do you not read the class outlines or listen to the teacher at the end of class, Bella?" he was laughing at me now. "We're doing blood typing today. I assumed after what Carlisle told me this morning, you wouldn't want to be anywhere near that class today."

I felt the blood drain from my head and I reached to try and grab the back of a chair before my knees completely gave out. Instantly, Edward was there grabbing my hand and helping me to sit down.

"I'm sorry Bella. I didn't think you'd react that way."

"It's okay Edward. I just hate the smell of blood; the weird copper like smell makes me so nauseous I pass out. Even the memory of the smell doesn't sit well."

"No it's not okay. I shouldn't have put it like that knowing that you went to the hospital last night."

He hadn't let go of my hand as we talked and his thumb was caressing the back of my hand. The coldness of his hand actually felt comforting against the warmth of my skin. I felt a tingling sensation travel up from my hand through my body and settle deep in my groin. I looked up to Edward's face and saw he was looking at me. When our eyes met, his darkened to a mocha colour and my breathe caught in my throat. He was so beautiful. I wanted to melt into him and beg him to take me. My heart started racing and as I watched, his eyes narrowed and lowered to my chest. My nipples tightened as I felt him looking at them. My body seemed to have taken over control of me and was acting on instinct. It wanted this, wanted Edward. I'd never ever had this powerful physical reaction to a boy before but my body seemed to know. It felt like I had found my other half. I felt my heart skip a beat as his eyes travelled down the rest of my body and then came back to look into mine. I shifted slightly on the chair; my body felt like it was on fire.

A door slammed out in the hallway and we both jumped. He dropped my hand and I looked away blushing. I could still feel him watching me and wondered what he was thinking. I tried to slow down my heart rate by taking some deep breathes but it wasn't exactly helping as long as I felt his eyes on me. I waited for him to say something.

I looked up and saw him looking around the room. There was no one there but it wouldn't be long before some teacher cruised through to make sure all students were in their classes.

"Would you like to come with me while we avoid the blood massacre?"

I looked up, surprised he would offer to spend time with me. "What are you going to do?"

"Probably just sit in my car and listen to music."

"I could do that."

"Great!"

We headed to the door that accessed the outside and ran to his car, hoping that no teachers saw us. I knew I could get an excuse from my dad about avoiding the blood typing class and I was assuming that Dr Cullen had already taken care of that for Edward and everyone else. I didn't even want to think about what would happen if they, as vampires, got stuck in a class where everyone was taking each other's blood.

We'd been sitting in the car for about 10 minutes when I realized that this might not have been a very good idea. As soon as we got in, Edward had docked his IPod and reclined his seat. He laid there with his eyes closed seemingly engrossed in the music, tapping his fingers on his leg. I wanted to be those fingers; I wanted those fingers on me. My breathing started to get shallow and my heart started to race again. I had no idea that someone's hands could be so damn sexy.

His eyes suddenly opened and looked into mine. I was caught by his gaze and he smiled that special smile. I gave him a little smile and looked away. I put my head on the headrest, closed my eyes and tried to force my thoughts to the music instead of him. I wasn't sure how long I sat there but I was startled by a knock on the window. I opened my eyes to find Alice staring at me wide eyed.

I grabbed the door handle and got out of the car, barely remembering to grab my backpack.

"Bella, what are you doing here?" she asked with a little smirk.

I blushed. "Uhm, I had to sit out biology. They were doing blood typing. Edward offered to let me listen to music with him."

Her eyes moved over to Edward who was still sitting in the car and back to me and nodded. Just then, the warning bell rang for next class so I quickly said goodbye, waved at Edward and headed back into the school.

Feel free to Twitter me at mahika


	20. First Kiss, Chapter 19

I do not own and didn't create the world of Twilight, just taking the characters out for fun.

So, here's the next chapter. I won't get another uploaded for a few days. I will try to find some time to write a little bit while in Vancouver but I won't guarantee it. I plan on having too much fun at Sam Bradley's show and with the Land of Dreamers girls LOL. Ok and here's a plug for one of my favourite musician. If you don't know who Sam is, check out his Myspace page .com/sambradley . He is AWESOME and touring the US this fall!

**________________________________________________________________**

First Kiss - Chapter Nineteen

Edward's POV

Well, that was certainly an interesting 2 hours. Alice had shared with me her conversation with Bella at the beginning of lunch. Although Bella didn't come right out and admit to Alice that she did more than just like me, apparently it was quite obvious to Alice that she did. That pixie certainly had her ways of ferreting out information, for sure.

I'd decided to just go with it and see what happened if I was more "friendly" to Bella than I'd previously been. It was getting easier to be with her despite my hunger for her blood with the exception of all the fantasies I continued to have about her. Any flat surfaces and some not so flat, fired my imagination of exactly what I would like to do to Bella.

I couldn't believe that she'd actually agreed to spend time with me while we ditched biology and blood typing. I felt really bad about how I broke the news of what they were doing in class; I should have been a little more sensitive given her abhorrence of blood. I wasn't used to taking others feelings into account, especially human type girls. Rose gave back as good as I gave her and Alice pretty much told me to fuck off, well they both told me to fuck off on a regular basis if I was being honest. Rose might be sarcastic and most times a bitch but Alice was the devil in disguise. Not only do you not want to bet against her, it's really against your best interests to piss her off. And with my activities with other vampires of the female variety, there were no feelings involved, just a little letting off steam. I grinned remembering some of the so called ladies I'd been with, and then frowned as I remember the situation with Tanya. Okay, Alice was right to glare at me over that brief thought. Tanya was not someone I wanted to get involved with again. But that's another story.

I'd have to be careful with Bella though, I couldn't lose control. Even if she was a shape-shifter, she would still be more fragile than a vampire. No matter how much Alice, or even I, wanted it and had seen it in her visions, there was no way I was going to get physical with Bella if there was a chance she could be hurt.

Both times we had gotten close today, her heart rate increased and her breathing became shallow. I knew she was reacting to my proximity. My body seemed to react to her like she was the sun and I was a planet revolving around her. My senses hummed whenever she was near. She didn't seem to be adverse to my advances either.

I wasn't too sure what to make of the speed at which she ran away from the car when Alice showed up. Maybe she was embarrassed by her reactions to me? I knew she was a virgin by overhearing Angela's thoughts that first day of school. I still couldn't believe it. Were the guys in her last school all fucking blind? How had she not even had a boyfriend?

Alice was suddenly around the car at the driver's door. "Edward, you've got to get going or you're going to be late for last class!"

I sighed and got out of the car. I slung my arm over her shoulders and gave her a brief hug and a smile. "Let's go then!"

She looked at me quizzically for a moment then smiled. I wasn't sure I liked that smile.

"Alice! Please don't share your visions of what you and Jasper will be doing please! I'm having a hard enough time not throwing Bella down on a table in the cafeteria or wherever and just getting it over with. I really can't handle your fantasies!"

"Sorry Edward, but your sexual frustrations right now are making my sex life remarkable!" She whirled away laughing.

It was childish but I stuck my tongue out at her as she ran to class. I sauntered into the school still thinking of Bella and the feelings she had stirred in me. As I walked in, I saw her down the hall surrounded by Mike Newton and his crew. She didn't seem at all comfortable around him or his friends. Newton was getting up close and personal while his buddies were backing him up.

I could here his thoughts and I didn't like what I was hearing at all. As I approached, I could hear Bella asking him to step back and leave her alone. I was about to step in and tell him to fuck off when he leaned in close to her and said something to her. I sincerely hoped what he said was not what he was thinking or I'd rip his head off. Bella's face changed as she dropped her book bag and she shoved him away from her. I watched as he literally flew across the hallway, knocking a couple of his friends down along the way. I turned back to Bella and she was standing there with her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide. She looked horrified by what she had done. Newton got to his feet and started to charge back to where Bella was standing. I started walking at a fast "human" pace and got to Bella just as he did.

"Is there a problem, Bella?"

She turned towards me, her eyes wide and frightened. "Uhm, Mike was .. "

I turned to Newton and saw that he was literally shaking with rage. My eyes met his and I gave him my most intimidating look. Just then, Emmett came around the corner and seemed to size up the situation in one look. He came up by Bella and just stood there. As soon as he approached, Newton's friends started to melt away to their classes, leaving a horrified Bella, an enraged Newton, Emmett and myself standing in the hallway.

It took a few minutes before Newton was actually aware of Emmett and I standing there. He looked at both of us and then back at Bella, glared at her for a few minutes then stalked off down the hall.

"Bella, are you okay?"

I reached out to touch her arm and she jumped like she had forgotten I was there. She must have just noticed that Emmett was standing next to her because she gave a little jump again and then blushed. Damn I love that blush! She looked up at Emmett and gave a little smile then turned back to me.

"I'm okay. Thanks for stopping. I wasn't sure what Mike was going to do. He was saying some pretty nasty things to me."

"What did he say?" I asked at the same time as Emmett said, "Want me to go beat him up for ya?"

I smiled over at him as Bella turned and yelled "No!"

Emmett literally jumped and started laughing. "Wow, dynamite in a little package. You could be related to Alice. Well, if everything is okay now, I'll go find Rose. It's our free period together."

"Thanks Emmett." Bella said, and then turned to me. She was still shaking a bit and I put my hand on her arm.

"Would you like to sit down" indicating a room behind us that was empty. She nodded her head without speaking and followed me into the room. I turned towards her and the next thing I knew she was in my arms wrapping hers around my waist. Trembling, she started to sob into my chest. I put my arms around her awkwardly.

Bella's POV

I couldn't believe Mike Newton! The audacity of him! It was so rude of him to say those things to me; just because he saw me sitting in Edward's car. If I wasn't interested in the jerk before, I sure as hell wouldn't be now. Thank the gods that Edward and Emmett showed up. I could have literally killed Mike. When he'd said what he did in front of his friends after I told him to leave me alone; I saw red. My body had gotten hot and started to shake. Before I knew it, Mike was flying across the hallway. I was horrified that I had done that. It was like I had been taken over by my instincts and I just attacked him. I'd have to apologize to Emmett for snapping at him when he offered to beat Mike up for me. I knew he was just joking but I didn't really like violence. If there was a way to avoid it, I would. Maybe it came from having the Chief of Police of Forks as my father. His policy with everything was that violence solved nothing. I don't even think he'd even drawn his gun during his whole career so far. He would be so disappointed that I had resorted to such actions.

When Edward asked if I wanted to sit down and indicated the empty classroom, I couldn't think of anywhere I would rather be. I definitely didn't want to go to my class because Mike was actually in it. He was such an ass! I felt myself starting to shake again but not from anger. This time it was from his reaction after I pushed him. He was so angry; I didn't doubt for a moment that if Edward and Emmett hadn't been there, he would have hit me.

When we got into the room, all I could think of was that Edward was there. As he turned to face me, I instinctually went into his arms and wrapped mine around his waist, sobbing into his chest. I hated that my normal reaction to being angry was to cry. I felt his arms slowly go around my shoulders. The coolness of his body felt wonderful against my heated one. As we stood there, my sobs slowed and my trembling changed from reaction to something else. Being that close to Edward made me want to be even closer. I could feel his hands slowly rubbing my back in a comforting gesture. I turned my head, my nose grazing his neck and inhaled his scent. There was something about him that drew me in.

He shifted slightly, moving his body a little away from me. I lifted my head and our eyes met. His eyes turned darker as he looked into mine. I could feel my heart starting to race and my breath caught. His eyes fell to my lips as I licked them. His eyes came back to mine and he started to lean towards me. My breath came in short gasps and I waited in anticipation. Was he actually going to kiss me?

It felt like everything was going in slow motion, time seemed to literally stop while I waited to see what he was going to do. I could feel myself starting to lean towards him and then I felt it. His cool lips touched mine. My eyes drifted closed as I just went with the feelings he started in me. My body started to shiver, my stomach got butterflies, and my hands clung to his back. I felt his tongue reach out and swipe my lower lip, like he was asking permission. My mouth opened to his almost involuntarily and I felt his tongue reach in. If I thought his scent was divine, his taste was beyond imagination. His hands reached up to the back of my head and our kiss deepened. I felt his fingers thread themselves through my hair. I wasn't sure how long we just stood there exploring each other but suddenly he tore himself away from me and was standing a few feet away.

"Sorry" he said.

I looked at him with wide eyes, a little hurt by his sudden departure. "Why are you sorry? I kind of liked it."

"You just had a bad experience with Newton. I took advantage."

"Edward, you didn't take advantage of me. Believe me, if I hadn't wanted you to kiss me, I wouldn't have let you. I'm not helpless, you know."

I was getting annoyed. Did he think I needed a knight in shining armour or something? Just because he was probably stronger and faster than I was, didn't mean I couldn't take care of myself. After all, I was a shape-shifter, or at least part, and I could feel myself getting stronger all the time. I really needed to talk to Jake about that. I know Edward didn't know what I was but he had just seen me make Mike fly across the hallway. Oh crap, I just realized that I'd done that in front of all of Mike's gang! How was I going to explain that?

Oh right, back to the topic at hand, Edward and kissing. I'll deal with Mike later.

"Bella, I don't think you're helpless. I just know that you were shaken up after that and I feel like I took advantage of the situation. You were upset." His eyes were solemn, like he was chastising himself.

"I wasn't really upset, I was angry with myself."

"Angry? Why would you be angry?"

I avoided his eyes for a moment. I couldn't tell him what I was. What if that changed how he saw me. From the way he kissed me, I knew he wanted me. I had felt his physical reaction to me when he pulled me close while we were kissing. Men just can't hide that stuff, I thought with a mental snicker.

"Never mind. The point is I liked that you kissed me. Can we do it again?"

Edward chuckled. "Well, I don't think we should get into any more of that here. We really should go and catch the last bit of our classes."

My eyes widened. CRAP! Charlie would kill me if I missed 2 classes today. The first he would be more understanding about, but how could I explain the 2nd. "Oh yeah Dad, I skipped the 2nd time because I was busy kissing Edward in an empty classroom. That would go over like a ton of bricks.

"You're right, we should get to class." I dreaded seeing Mike there though. I was sure he would still be pissed off at me for embarrassing him.

I started to turn towards the door when I heard Edward clear his throat. I turned back towards him. He had a pretty serious look on his face as he walked towards me. He reached out with his hand and stroked my cheek. I could feel myself

blush as I smiled at him.

"Bella, be careful of Newton. You just embarrassed him in front of all of his buddies. He isn't going to like that."

"I know, Edward. I really can't stand him. I've told him repeatedly that I'm not interested in him but he just doesn't seem to take no for an answer."

"Well, you know Emmett and I will be watching him closely, and I'll clue Jasper in on the situation as well. You have Alice's cell number, right? Call her if he tries anything, she'll get a hold of one of us if you need us."

I could see he was worried about what Mike would do. I'd have to admit, I wasn't too sure how the situation would turn out myself. I reached my hand up and touched the back of his that was still against my cheek. I looked up into his eyes and smiled.

"Thanks, I do have Alice's number. I'll call if he does anything."

We turned towards the door and walked out into the hall. I bent and grabbed my book bag where it had dropped when I shoved Mike away. He smiled at me again and we headed to our respective classes. I was so glad that this was the last class of the day.

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Well, what did you think of their first kiss? Reviews are starting to make me smile :-) Keep them coming and thanks for reading the story.


	21. More Decisions, Chapter 20

I do not own and didn't create the world of Twilight, just taking the characters out for fun.

Next chapter is here! LOL

BTW, the Sam Bradley show in Vancouver on Sept 25th was absolutely AWESOME! If you haven't seen him, you don't know what you're missing. 3 Sam!

**________________________________________________________________**

More Decisions - Chapter Twenty

Bella's POV

I was getting rather frustrated. Edward and I hadn't been alone since the day of the "Newton Incident" as it was being called by Emmett. The week had gone along without further events and now I was getting ready to make Friday night dinner for Charlie and myself.

Mike hadn't done anything to me since that day, at least not directly. He started silly rumours about me and his crew would give me dirty looks. I blamed adrenalin on the fact that I was able to make Mike fly across the hallway. Emmett thought the whole thing was incredibly funny and laughed at Mike every time he was within earshot. Mike was not impressed. He continuously glared at me and I was beginning to think Edward was right. Mike may be planning payback but I had no clue what it could be. I had actually called Jake that night and asked him about my reaction to what Mike had done. He explained that it was quite normal for the Quileute to have surges of strength and power whenever they felt threatened. The heat generated and the power I felt within me was completely normal.

On the other hand, apparently Edward had the same thoughts where it came to Mike. He rarely let me go anywhere alone if Mike was at school, including the bathroom. Either Alice or Rose was apparently supposed to escort me anywhere that the guys couldn't. It was nice to know that he cared, but I would rather have been alone with him.

That kiss we shared was so intense, I felt myself reliving it time and time again. My dreams since that day were of that kiss. Wishing we hadn't been in a classroom, wishing we had been able to pursue it further. I didn't know where these thoughts were coming from. I'd never had these feelings when I was in Arizona. There were plenty of guys but like I said before they had never shown any interest in me. Granted, I'd never even had interest in the opposite sex until recently either. It seemed to have coincided with the physical changes that started when the shape-shifting genes initialized or whatever you want to call it.

Well, for whatever reason it started, I wanted Edward. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to be close to him in every way that I have read about in books Renee reads. Yeah, okay, I snuck a few of them to read every once in a while. Not my usual genre but they were pretty interesting. I found it rather amusing that they were about mythical type beings such as vampires, demons, shape-shifters and such. How ironic that I was having feelings for an actual vampire. I wonder what the authors of the books would think if they knew that vampires and shape-shifters actually existed.

The school week ended and Alice decided that she had to take me shopping again. It was like shopping was in her blood and she used any excuse to go on an excursion. I decided to invite Angela to go with us. She and Ben had actually been sitting with me and the Cullens lately and it was really nice to include her. I was glad that I was able to invite Angela to spend time with my new friends. At least I hoped they thought of me as a friend. I know Alice did. I was still unsure how Edward really felt about me besides the obvious. Emmett was acting like a very over protective brother. Rose just didn't seem to care one way or another. I wasn't sure if was more about me or more about her. Jasper was friendly enough but seemed to keep his distance from me and any other human in the school. I wondered why but sort of thought it had something to do with the blood thing. I was pretty sure that although they were vampires that survived on the blood of animals instead of humans, it must be pretty difficult to be around all the humans in the school day in and day out. I would be lying if I didn't admit that it was something that I was actually curious about. How could they be in such close proximity of humans all the time and not want to throw one down and feed on them?

But back to the problem at hand, how was I going to get to spend more alone time with Edward? Should I come clean and tell him I knew what he was? Should I tell him what I was? What would that mean for us? Would he still want me? I think the last question terrified me the most. What would happen if I told Edward and he looked at me like I was a monster? I mean, granted he was a vampire, but according to the Quileute legends, the shape-shifters came into existence to kill the vampires. I wonder if there was a way I could bring up the subject without actually telling him that I was one? Sort of try out the waters before plunging in or I could even broach the subject with Alice to start with.

I could use the shopping trip with her and Angela to bring up the subject somehow. She knows that I'm friends with Jake so I could ask her what she thought of the legends. With that game plan in hand, I smiled to myself and grabbed everything together for the spaghetti dinner I decided to make. I didn't make anything fancy because my mother had always loved experimenting when she and Charlie were together. He seemed to be literally terrified of what I was going to make sometimes. Apparently some of the dishes had been just plain awful and I was determined that I wouldn't put him through that again.

We may not be very demonstrative when it came to how we felt, but I knew Charlie loved me and he knew that I loved him. I loved that he didn't hover around me, didn't stick his nose in my business. I was actually glad that both my parents were like that. They had set down ground rules that I was expected to follow and they trusted me to follow them. I'd never had any reason not to, before Edward that is. He made me feel like breaking all the rules ever made and then some.

I went to bed early that night to make sure I was well rested for shopping with Alice. I was beginning to feel bad about not warning Angela about the marathon shopping event ahead of us tomorrow. I don't think she'd believe me if I told her anyway but it was going to be pretty interesting to see how she dealt with the energizer bunny aka Alice.

Edward's POV

After that kiss (and oh what a kiss it was!), I did my best not to be alone with Bella for the rest of the week. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to control myself if we kissed again. Newton continued to be a dickhead all week and I made sure that Bella didn't go anywhere by herself. Rose reluctantly agreed to help but didn't like it. I think the only reason she did was because Emmett had come to look on Bella as a little sister and had pretty much let the whole school know it. I think Newton's crew got the message that if they tried to do anything to Bella; he would be on them like white on rice and it would not be a pretty sight.

All throughout the week, my thoughts continually went back to "the kiss". I was starting to read Bella and I knew from her body language that she was becoming as frustrated as I was but for her safety, I needed to keep that space between us right now.

I was actually debating on whether or not to tell Bella that I knew what she was. Carlisle had gotten the preliminary tests back and the initial results showed that Bella did indeed have a slightly different DNA coding than the average human. It was helpful that Carlisle worked in the hospital where he had access to sampling of human blood so he could run comparisons. He also had a complete lab in the house where he could run most of the tests himself so no attention was drawn to the strangeness of the tests and their results.

What the results meant for Bella and I was up in the air. Carlisle was well aware of what my feelings for Bella were progressing into. I was feeling more and more protective of her, wanted her more and more. What had started out as just a desire for her blood and then her body had turned into something emotional. I had never had these feelings before with any other female I had been near. It was new territory for me and I wasn't sure how I was going to deal with it. It was actually sort of scary if the truth be known.

I was hesitant to tell Bella that I knew what she was; I didn't want it to put a wall between us. If I admit to that, should I also tell her what I was? It was quite the dilemma. Alice was quite positive that I should come clean with her and tell her everything. I was starting to lean that way because what kind of relationship, if that is where this was going, could we have if we couldn't be honest with each other.

I thought long and hard all week about how I could tell her what I knew and what I was. I knew I had to come up with a game plan that wouldn't drive her away from me. I didn't think I could handle that. Not after being close to her, after tasting her. I needed that again. She was becoming my addiction, like my own personal brand of heroin, and I needed to make sure she was in my life for a very long time.

By the end of the week, I was feeling extremely frustrated. Even though it was my own decision to put space between us for a while, it was becoming a major distraction and I was having a huge problem concentrating on anything other than Bella. Alice had decided to take her shopping on the weekend and Bella had invited Angela to go along. I actually liked Angela and her now boyfriend Ben. I guess there had been problems before Bella had moved to Forks but it had apparently straightened itself out when another boy had started showing interest in Angela. Human boys were very strange, I thought.

Since Bella would be occupied on Saturday with Alice, I decided to see if she was busy on Sunday. I just had to figure out what we could do. I wasn't sure we should be alone but the conversation I was thinking of having with her was not one to have in public, especially since I wasn't sure how she was going to react. I wasn't sure what nervousness felt like but I was pretty sure it was what I was feeling.

Feel free to Twitter me at mahika / .com/mahika

Chapter isn't as long as normal but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

So, should Bella just bite the bullet and tell Edward that she knows the awful truth about him?? It looks like Edward might beat her to the bush, as the saying goes. Which one will risk it all first by coming clean with the other one?

Reviews make me smile :-) Keep them coming and thanks for reading the story.


	22. First Date Plans Chapter 21

I do not own and didn't create the world of Twilight, just taking the characters out for fun.

Hope you all had a great weekend. Enjoy another new chapter :-)

I wasn't sure I would get anything done after going to bed at 5:30am after the Sam Bradley show on Friday night with other members of the Land of Dreamers Fan Community. We just get way too excited to be with each other at the boys' shows. 3 them all so much! And a special shout out to the LoD girls that came all the way from Los Angeles and Washington State to see the show!

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First Date Plans- Chapter Twenty One

Edward's POV

I talked to Esme when I got home on Friday night about what to do about Bella and whether I should tell her what I knew. She agreed with me that I shouldn't do it in public as we weren't sure how Bella would respond to the news. The weather for the weekend was supposed to be a mixture, cloudy on Saturday and sunny on Sunday. Welcome to the Pacific Northwest. If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it will change.

I spent the night coming up with plans and then changing my mind. Halfway through the night, there was a knock on my door and I heard Alice think "let me in Edward. You're driving me crazy!"

"Come on in, Alice!"

She bounced into the room with her usual energy and jumped on my bed. "Take her to your meadow, Edward."

"What? How do you ..? Oh, never mind, pixie." I said shaking my head. No matter how long I live with her, I never get used to her precognitive abilities. Sometimes it is just downright freaky but then who was I to talk. My mind reading capabilities usually are disturbing to those that first find out about it, although the only ones that knew were my family and our "cousin" vampires up in Alaska. The Denali family was much like ousr and lived the "vegetarian" way of life.

I thought about Alice's suggestion and realized it made sense. If the weather was correct which Alice assured me it would be, the sunny weather would be perfect to show Bella exactly what I really looked like. Alice smiled at me as she realized I was taking her suggestion seriously and bounced back out of the room grinning like mad. I think she was more excited for Bella to learn what we were than I was.

I logged onto my computer and noticed that Bella wasn't online, and then I looked at the clock and realized it was 2 am. I hadn't thought I had debated on my decision for so long. Time flew when you were having fun I guess. I sent her a message anyway asking if she would like to do something on Sunday. I figured she would check her messages before she went out for the day with Alice and Angela. I was glad that Alice was able to have some friends. I was utterly amazed at Alice's will power and ability to not need human blood. Maybe that wasn't the right way to think about it but she'd been able to easily be around humans for as long as I knew her. Carlisle's theory was that Alice doesn't remember being a new born vampire and the soul wrenching need for human blood during that time and therefore being near humans doesn't bother her like it does those of us that remember those days.

I left the computer logged into Yahoo so that I would hear it as soon as or if Bella replied to my message. I wandered over to my black leather couch and flicked on my docked IPod with the remote. I hadn't had a chance to listen to the new downloads from the week I stayed at home and was really interested in listening to Marcus Foster's work. I heard of him by chance when looking through Myspace for new music and really enjoyed what I heard.

As I lay there listening to the music, my thoughts inevitably wandered to Bella and our first kiss. Just remembering the feelings that wove itself through my body while we were kissing caused my dick to harden with need. Everywhere our bodies touched, electricity seemed to pour through me. I wanted to feel that again. I could almost imagine what being with her completely would be like; if I could trust myself to not physically hurt her. I closed my eyes and immersed myself into the memories of that day. It didn't take long for me to become so hard I felt I was going to combust. Getting up, I headed straight to my bathroom. I was never so happy to have my own bathroom as I was these days. It would be more than slightly awkward to be in a shared bathroom and have someone knock on the door when I was in the middle of "relieving" myself. My dick was seriously getting tired of feeling my hand. I closed my eyes and felt myself cum to the fantasy of it being Bella that was stroking me.

Alice's POV

I was so happy for Edward. I knew from the beginning that Bella was going to be in his life permanently and the feelings he was having for her were not just physical. I also knew he was feeling extremely frustrated in his worries about actually being with Bella physically; his worry about hurting her. I knew he wouldn't but there was no way I could convince him of that.

I went back to Jasper and my room after I talked briefly with Edward and hoped he followed through with the plans he had decided on for Sunday. I was going to make sure Bella got some good clothes for a little outdoor excursion when we were in Port Angeles. I was also looking forward to getting to know Angela a little better. I was happy that she finally got together with Ben. Bella had taken me aside when they first started sitting with us. Apparently Ben had been part of Mike Newton's little crew and was a total dick to Angela at first. I guess when she stopped trying to talk to him; he finally realized what he was missing and changed his tune pretty quickly. They'd been dating ever since and Bella was really happy for them.

I sighed and snuggled deeper into Jasper's arms, nuzzled his neck and kissed his jaw line. He grinned and turned his head to nuzzle me back. I turned my face up to his and he kissed me deeply. I was so happy that he had found me. He, beyond any doubt, was my life mate and I honestly don't know if I would've survived the early years without the knowledge that he was somewhere out there and would eventually find me.

Bella's POV

I woke up on Saturday morning and turned on the computer to check my email. It was time to answer my weekly letter from my mom about life in Forks. I wasn't sure if I should tell her about Edward or not. Not that he was a vampire but that I had feelings for him. I had told her about Alice and she already knew about Angela. I also kept her up to date on the shape-shifter changes in me. I hadn't had too much more to report though. I was still going through feeling like I had a high temperature most of the time and I could feel myself getting stronger. I was still blown away by what had happened with Mike but I hadn't told mom about that. There was no point in worrying her over something that was done and over with. Since the tribe really didn't know a lot about us half-breeds, shall we say, everyone was sort of playing it by ear. A will she or won't she kind of attitude.

As the computer booted up, I headed to the bathroom to shower and get ready for my day with Alice and Angela. The house was quiet as I headed down the hall indicating that Charlie had already left on his fishing trip with Billy. It was nice to see him doing something other than just working all the time. As I waited for the conditioner to work its magic in my hair, my thoughts wandered back to Monday and the kiss that Edward and I shared. I almost wished that we hadn't been at school. I would have loved to have gone on kissing him and it had been obvious that he would have kept kissing me if he'd had the choice; at least I hoped he would. I was getting turned on just by thinking of him and I was getting more and more frustrated by the inability to be with him. I couldn't understand why he kept his distance after the kiss. I was more than willing to go beyond kissing with him. He was in actual fact, the first boy I had ever kissed in that way.

I was still having a hard time believing that a creature as beautiful as Edward actually wanted me. I didn't understand it. He could have anyone, anywhere. Why me?

The shower water started cooling which brought me out of my thoughts of Edward and I quickly rinsed my hair and stepped out. I towelled off and headed back to my room in my robe. As I walked back into my bedroom, I heard the ping of Yahoo letting me know that I had a message. I figured it was just Alice letting me know what time we were heading to Port Angeles so I decided to get dressed first. Contemplating the clothes in my closet, I tried to decide what clothes were appropriate to wear on a shopping trip with Alice. The last time we went, she wasn't very impressed with my choice. Then I remembered the outfit that Alice had purchased for me the last time she hauled me off to shop. It was actually still in the store bag lying at the bottom of my closet. I figured that I should probably wear it since she had mentioned the other day that she hadn't seen me wearing it yet.

I got dressed and sat down at the computer. I was beyond surprised when I realized it wasn't Alice that had sent a message but Edward. He wanted to know if I was busy tomorrow. Wow! I quickly hit reply and said that I hadn't any plans right now.

I opened up my email program and while it was downloading, I decided to do an online search for a bookstore in Port Angeles. I had listened to Billy tell me about the Quileute Legends but I wasn't quite sure if I remembered all of them. I wanted to get a book on the legends so I could read through them at my leisure and not bug Billy to repeat them to me over and over again. I found one that specifically sold Native books and such and transferred the address to my notes in my cell phone. Oh, did I forget to mention that Charlie bought me a cell phone the other day? I wasn't sure why he bought it but it was sitting on the kitchen table when I got home from grocery shopping. I thought it was pretty sweet of him. I hadn't had a chance to tell Alice yet or get everyone's number yet but I was excited to start using it soon. I made a mental note to get Angela and Alice's numbers right away.

My Yahoo pinged again but this time it was Alice. The plan, she IM'd, was for her to pick me up and then we could both swing around and grab Angela. Alice felt Angela would be more comfortable if I was in the car when we picked her up.

I was just replying to Alice when I got another message. This time the message was from Edward wanting to know if I would like to go somewhere with him tomorrow. My heart stopped. He wanted to go somewhere with me!?!?!

Holy crow! I tried to play it casual as I replied. _Sure, where would we go?_

_Dress for outdoors. It's a surprise._

I stared at my computer for a few minutes. _Outdoors? Uhm, Edward, I'm not very good with outdoor stuff._

_It's okay Bella. It's not anything scary just a bit of a walk. I'd like to take you to one of my favourite places._

_Okay. That sounds interesting. What time would you like to go? Early or ?_

_Well, tomorrow is Sunday. Don't you want to sleep in?_

Was he joking? Sleep in or spend some time with him? I think I will pass staying in bed, unless he was in bed with me. Oh crap, I didn't type that did I? I looked quickly at the computer screen. Nope I didn't. Whew. That would have been totally embarrassing.

_No, I rarely sleep in, Edward. _

_Okay, how's 9am? I can pick you up. I'll be driving Emmett's jeep._

_Great! See you tomorrow!_

I gave in to my inner fangirl and squee'd. I mean, Edward was beautiful enough to be a celebrity right? I danced around the room until I heard my Yahoo go off again. It was Alice asking if I was almost ready. I looked at the clock on the computer and realized that it was almost 10am.

_Yes, Alice, I'm all ready to go. _

_Be there soon. I can't wait to get you and Angela shopping. _

I sighed, Alice and her shopping. It was a good thing that I really did love her, otherwise there was no way in hell that she could get me to a mall. It still amazed me how that little pixie had wormed her way into my heart and only after a couple of weeks. She was like my long lost sister that I didn't know I was missing.

I quickly replied to my mom's email giving her a quick update on the week without mentioning the Mike incident. No point in worrying her over nothing. Mike had only glared at me all week but hadn't approached me. I knew that Emmett had put the fear of him in all of Mike's little playmates but from what I saw, Mike didn't appear intimidated.

I heard a honk outside just as I was hitting send on the email. I decided to leave the computer and ran down the stairs to Alice's car. As soon as I got in, I turned to Alice.

"I forgot to tell you! My dad got me a cell phone!" I reached into my pocket and brought it out to show her. "What's your number?"

Alice grabbed my cell and opened it up. She quickly punched, at the speed of light I might mention, in a few numbers and handed it back to me. I looked at her with my mouth gaping. Her eyes went wide and she muttered an apology.

"It's okay. Thanks for putting them in!" I decided not to mention the fact that she did it at super-human speed. I was beginning to think that I should probably just tell them that I knew that they were all vampires because at the rate Alice was going, she was going to let the whole town in on their secret. I'd noticed on more than one occasion that she appeared to forget to act human when she was around me. Wait a minute! Does that mean that they might already know what I was? Is that why she didn't keep as good control around me as the others do? I did notice the last time she did it that Jasper and Edward exchanged a look. Were they getting worried about her being with me?

Suddenly, Alice turned to me with a huge smile and shouted "Yes! I love you anyway Bella, no matter what you are!" her eyes went wide and she gasped, her hand going over her mouth.

"Did I just say that out loud?" she asked.

I nodded mutely, my eyes wide open. I swallowed, took a deep breathe and exhaled.

"What do you mean; you'll love me no matter what I am?"

"Oh geez. Edward is going to absolutely kill me but we, uhm Bella, we know you're a shape-shifter."

I gulped. They know what? What the hell? How do they know? How did they find out? I think I stopped breathing because Alice grabbed my arm and shook me.

"Bella! Bella! Are you okay? Breathe please!"

I inhaled deeply, glad that we were still sitting in my driveway.

"Well Alice, since we are dropping bombs today, I guess I should tell you that I know that you and your family are vampires too."

Alice started laughing, flinging herself against the back of the seat of the car. I must have been looking at her like she was crazy because she attempted to get a hold of herself and she turned back to me.

"Bella, I know you know." She said, still snickering. "It's the reason I just blurted it out. Like I said, Edward is going to kill me."

"How could you know that?" I asked of her, puzzled now.

"Well, not to overload you or anything, but I have visions of the future. I see things that might happen. I say might because it's based on what people that I see decide. If they change their minds, my visions change. When you made the decision to talk to Edward, you came onto my radar and I knew that you already knew our secret. Do you want me to let Edward know that you already know?"

"Wow! That's a pretty neat talent to have!" I actually couldn't believe how calmly I was taking that news. "Er, well, how does Edward feel about what I am?"

Alice reached over and hugged me. "I'm just glad you still like me even knowing what I am. As for Edward, I think he's just fine about you being a shape-shifter to tell you the truth. But I am not going to betray his secret, that's up to him to tell you."

"Of course I still like you Alice! You're one of two of my best friends! Wait a minute, what do you mean about Edward's secrets?"

"I can't tell you that Bella. It's not my place. Now let's go get Angela and go shopping! You need to get something to wear tomorrow." Alice giggled and started up the car.

I gaped at her again. Would she never fail to surprise me? I think not. It was certainly going to be interesting having a psychic vampire as a best friend.

Feel free to Twitter me at mahika or .com/mahika

So how do you think that went?

Thanks to those that are reading and reviewing the story.


	23. Mutual Confessions, Chapter 22

Characters and major points of the story belong to Twilight and S. Meyer, a few twists and turns are all mine.

Thanks for all the reviews :-) Love em!

This chapter is a little longer than usual. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading!

Hmm, the big conversation! What will happen? Read and find out ….

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Mutual Confessions - Chapter Twenty Two

**Edward's POV**

Alice came home from shopping with Bella in a very excited mood but I couldn't get a handle on why. She kept reciting different things through her mind to block me out. She was the only one of my 'siblings' that had figured out how to block her thoughts from me. I wasn't too concerned about it, however, because she would never hide anything from me that was important.

I'd spent the rest of Saturday planning out my "date' with Bella and had come up with a pretty decent day, if I did say so myself.

I got out Emmett's Jeep from the garage and loaded it with everything I would need for the excursion to my meadow with Bella. It was only 7am but as we didn't sleep, I'd been getting my supplies together for a couple of hours by this point. I still had a couple of hours before I picked up Bella and I could feel myself getting a little anxious to see her. I couldn't help but wonder how the conversation that I was planning to have with her would impact the "us" I wanted there to be. The kiss the other day cinched it. If I had thought I could stay away from her forever, I was kidding myself. I needed her and I would figure out a way for us to be together if that's what she wanted too. Today, I would find out.

My mind wandered away to the harmony that had been playing in my mind for the last week. I decided to see if I could make it come alive on the piano that Esme had bought for me decades ago. When she discovered my talent for composing, she encouraged me to pursue it. I hadn't composed anything for many years, not since I had written Esme's favourite song.

I played with the tune that I had come to think of as Bella's song for a while when I felt another presence in the room and Esme's thoughts came into my mind.

**That's beautiful, Edward. What's it called?**

"It doesn't really have a name yet Esme. So far I am just calling it Bella's song."

**I'm so happy that you're composing again. **I felt her arms around me in a quick hug and then she wandered off to another room of the house.

I smiled to myself. I liked it when I made Esme happy. She was a wonderful, caring mother figure to me. One that I knew would be there for me no matter what happened.

I checked the time and saw that time had passed quickly while I'd been absorbed in the song. Since it was 8:30am, I decided it was late enough to head to Bella's.

**Bella's POV**

I was so nervous I couldn't sleep all night. I was excited to finally be able to spend some time with Edward but nervous on how this "date" was going to turn out. Alice, Angela and I had been out shopping in Port Angeles until almost supper the day before. I wasn't sure how Charlie would feel about me spending time alone with Edward so I told him that I was spending the day with Alice. Charlie might seem pretty easy going but I got the feeling that unless the guy was Jake, he didn't like to think of me hanging out with the opposite sex. I was pretty sure he just didn't want me to grow up but that was like most fathers, wasn't it?

Alice gave me strict instructions on what I was to wear. She even threatened to come over and dress me herself if I didn't promise to do what she said. I promised, of course. I was pretty sure I didn't want to deal with the wrath of the pixie named Alice.

I tossed and turned until I finally gave up and got out of bed when I heard Charlie move around the house. It was early enough that I could still make him breakfast before he headed to work so I went downstairs to see what he'd like. He looked up from his paper in surprise.

"What are you dong up so early, Bells?"

"Just going out with Alice today and she wanted to get an early start. She's picking me up at 9am. I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd come down and make breakfast for us. Want anything special?"

"You don't have to do that, Bells. I can grab something at the diner."

"I want to, Dad. How about waffles?"

"If you're sure, sounds great."

I busied myself with breakfast and that kept my mind off of Edward for a few minutes at least. Charlie headed off to work as soon as he was done eating, giving me a little wave and telling me to say hi to Alice for him. I felt kind of bad for lying to him about who I would be with but I felt it avoided unnecessary angst in the long run. I cleaned up the kitchen and glanced at the clock. It was 8:30am; Edward would be here in half an hour. I ran upstairs to get dressed in the clothes that Alice had helped me pick out yesterday. Since it only took me 15 minutes to do that and swipe a brush through my hair, I was downstairs and waiting when I heard a knock at the door.

My heart stopped. Edward was here! I could feel my heart start again at a frantic rate. I forced myself to slowly walk to the door so as not to appear too eager. I opened the door to find him standing there. Bronze hair ruffled as usual, the half smile I loved so much on his face and his golden eyes capturing and holding mine.

My breath caught in my throat as I tried to smile at him. Was I always going to have this reaction when I saw him? His smile widened as he took in my appearance.

"Hi, Bella. Are you ready to go?"

I shook my head to bring myself out of the Edward induced stupor I seemed to be in and cleared my throat.

"Sorry Edward, what did you say?"

He laughed a little, "Are you ready to go?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm ready. Let me just get my bag." I scurried to the kitchen to grab my bag and ran back to Edward.

I locked up the house and we headed to the car. Ever being the gentleman, Edward opened the passenger's door of Emmett's jeep and assisted me up into it. I watched him as he went around to the driver's door, climbed in and looked over at me. I looked at him quizzically.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Bella, I'm just waiting for you to do up your seatbelt on."

"Oh, sorry, I got a little distracted." I replied while smirking at him and doing up the seatbelt.

Edward chuckled and started up the jeep. As soon as the stereo kicked on, a beautiful song started to play. It was one person playing the piano. I have a lot of music on my IPod. I listen to everything and anything but I had never heard anything so beautiful in my life.

"Oh. My. Gods. Who is that?!?"

Edward glanced over at me and I swear, if he could have blushed, I think he would have. The only reason I knew that vampires couldn't was from hanging around Alice for so long and seeing her in potential embarrassing situations with nary a blush to be seen.

He mumbled something as he turned away from my gaze.

"What, Edward? Who is that playing?"

He turned back to me and said more clearly, "It's me. It's a song I wrote for Esme. Apparently Emmett got a copy from Esme and put it on a mixed CD. I didn't know it was on there."

"It's beautiful!"

I leaned back in the seat and closed my eyes until the song was over. When I opened them again, we were already out of town. It seemed awfully fast so I glanced over at the speedometer and gasped when I saw that we were going 100 mph.

"Edward! Slow down!"

He glanced down at the speedometer and laughed. "This is nothing, Bella. We all drive fast. Haven't you driven with Alice?"

"Yes, I have but she agreed to slow down if I am in the car. It makes me nervous."

Edward turned to me in shock. "Alice AGREED to drive slowly? What have you done to my sister?" He started to laugh. I was almost afraid of what he was going to do with that information. Maybe I should give Alice a head's up.

Suddenly, Edward pulled the jeep off the road and down a trail-like road just wide enough for the vehicle to go down. We drove down it for about 20 minutes and came out in a meadow. I gasped.

"Edward, it's beautiful!" I turned to him to see him grinning at me. He stopped the jeep in the shadow of a large tree where the path widened and got out. He came around my side and opened my door. I gazed up at him shyly. Now that we were here, I wasn't sure what do to. He helped me down and went back to the rear door. I came around the jeep to find him grabbing a blanket, a portable CD player and what looked like a picnic basket.

He gave me a small smile and gestured for me to go ahead of him. I walked a few yards into the meadow with him right behind me when I heard him say "here is good."

A cloud had blown by covering the sun as we walked. Edward put everything down and spread out the blanket, turned to me and helped me sit down. He handed me the CD player and reached into the basket for a few discs.

"Here, you choose."

I rifled through the CDs and chose one that just said mixed music on it, threw it in and hit play. The voice that came over the speakers was gravelly and husky and beautiful. I was stunned. I hadn't heard this singer before and decided to ask Edward later who it was.

"Good choice." I heard Edward say and I looked up to see him with a tentative smile on his face. I could tell he was a little nervous and that made me feel a little better. It almost calmed me down. I could do this. I could tell him what I was and I could deal with the consequences. I wasn't sure how deep my feelings were or where this, whatever this was between us, was going but I knew that I wanted it to continue. I wanted Edward to be a part of my life for as long as possible. I didn't know if that was love or not but whatever it was, it was how I felt. On the other hand, I didn't know how Edward felt. I only knew that when he had kissed me that day, it had felt like he hadn't wanted to stop.

**Edward's POV**

I looked over at Bella and gave her a tentative smile when I heard the song that started after she hit play on the CD player. It was a good song and fitting for the moment.

I wasn't sure how I was going to broach the subject that I knew I had to during our time together today. Bella seemed almost as nervous as I was but I wasn't sure why. A cloud had come in to cover the sun as we walked out to the middle of the meadow so my secret hadn't been revealed yet but I knew it was a matter of time.

I wasn't sure whether I should jump right in and get it over with or at least let us enjoy the food I had brought. Yes, I can eat. I can even taste food. I just didn't really need to eat but what is the point of living forever if you couldn't enjoy some of the finer things that "life" had to offer? I had hunted the night before with Emmett and Jasper so I could spend the day with Bella without too much discomfort. I was getting better at this self control that I had learned to encompass when I was near her. I was actually quite proud of myself, almost as proud as Esme was of me.

I decided to let us enjoy the food first and asked Bella what she would like. I'd made some sandwiches and salads. She chose a salad and I noticed her hand was shaking a little as she took it from my hand. Our fingers touched slightly and I felt the usual electrical pulse that always went between us whenever we were near each other.

We finished our picnic, packed up the basket and talked for a while. I unbuttoned my plaid shirt a little as I reclined on the blanket to reduce the pull against the back of my neck. I was so involved in our conversation that I hadn't noticed that the clouds had started to move and the sunlight was starting to spread across the meadow again. Suddenly, I head Bella gasp and I looked over at her. She was staring at me with wide eyes. I looked down to see that the sun had hit me and my skin was lit up.

I looked back at Bella and saw that she had started to reach out to me. I watched as her hand drew closer and closer to me, held very still and watched her face. The expression on her face, however, wasn't one of fright, it was one of amazement. I felt her hand softly touch mine and draw back.

"Edward, you sparkle!"

If I could have blushed, I'm sure I would be.

"Uhm, yeah Bella. I wanted to actually speak to you about something."

I could feel Bella's eyes on me but I couldn't look at her. How was I supposed to tell her what I was and that I knew what she was? Would she feel the same way about me? That is, if she felt anything at all?

She gave me a very serious look, "I have something to tell you as well, Edward."

"Ladies first."

"No, I can wait. You go first."

"Okay, well Bella, I have something to tell you about myself. I'm not … normal."

"What do you mean, you aren't normal? Are you sick or something?"

"No, no. I'm not sick. I .. ah .. "

**Bella's POV**

I almost smiled at the sight of Edward stuttering over trying to tell me he was a vampire. Alice told me to let him try to tell me what he was and have some fun but I just couldn't let him suffer.

I reached across to him and took his hand. I felt him try to pull away from my warm touch but I wouldn't let him.

"Edward, I already know."

His eyes flew up to mine. "What!?"

"I know you and your family are vampires."

His eyes widened. "What? You know?"

I laughed at his expression. "Yes, I've known for a while."

He looked at me for a moment, like he was trying to decide what to do. As I watched, he smiled slightly and reached over very slowly and kissed me softly on the lips.

Then he softly whispered, "I know you're a shape-shifter, Bella."

My eyes widened as they met his, my hand pulled away from his and then I saw his crooked smile, the one thing that could actually melt my heart.

"How? How did you find out? No one knows apart from Charlie and the Quileute tribe."

"It was Carlisle mostly. But I picked up on a few things. We've met your kind before."

"So are you the same "vegetarians" that came to this area before?"

Edward looked away for a few minutes before responding. "Yes, we were in the area before. We have to move around a lot since we don't age at all. People start to get suspicious. Since the invention of schools, we've spent a lot of time in high school. The younger we begin school in an area, the longer we can live there."

"Wow, forever in high school. That would totally suck!"

Edward started to laugh and took my hand in his, caressing the back of it. "You find out that I'm a vampire, and all you can think of is that going to high school a lot would suck? Bella, you must be the most strange, wonderful girl I could have ever met."

I could feel myself blushing as I looked down at our hands. "What happens now?"

"What do you want to happen? I really like you Bella. I feel like I have found the other half of myself since meeting you. You already know how badly I want you. There is no way I can hide your affect on me. I'm just not sure how you feel."

I wasn't sure how to put my feelings into words. The knowledge that Edward was feeling the same things as I was so powerful it left me speechless. My heart felt like it could burst with all the feelings that filled it. I just wasn't sure I wanted to put a label on it yet. It felt like I could jinx it or something stupid like that. Okay, yeah, silly 17 year old girl here remember.

I looked up into Edward's eyes and realized that he was waiting for me to respond.

"I feel the same way, Edward. I felt it the second I saw you that first day at school. I was pretty devastated when you acted like you hated me and wanted to kill me. Although at the same time, you looked like you wanted to jump me and I wouldn't have been adverse to that." I laughed, letting him know I really was over the whole him being a total ass that first day.

"Bella, it's lucky I didn't know that that first day! I would have had you right there on the table we were sitting at! The reason behind my behaviour that day was because of your blood."

"My blood?"

"Yes, the scent of your blood is like a drug to me. It calls more to me than any other human I have ever met. Carlisle's friend calls you my singer. There is something about certain human's blood that calls to certain vampires. We don't know why, but your blood is it for me."

I moved a little away from him, my eyes watching. Edward laughed again.

"Bella, it's okay. Apparently I have a depth of self control that I never knew I had or my other desire for you outweighs the need to drink your blood." His eyes raked my body from head to toes, lingering on my breasts for a moment before continuing downward.

I felt my nipples hardening and my body started tingling everywhere I felt his eyes on me. His hand reached out and gently caressed my cheek and the tingling got stronger. I reached towards him and caressed his hair; his gorgeous bronze sex hair. He leaned towards me and brushed his lips on mine and along my jaw toward my neck. I felt his nose graze down towards my shoulder as he inhaled deeply.

"See, no problem." I felt myself getting wet as he brought his face back up towards mine and kissed me. His tongue reached out and caressed my lips. Instinctually I opened my mouth to let him in. The coolness of his tongue in the heat of my mouth almost took me over the edge. A shiver ran down my spine as I gripped his hair and deepened the kiss. I couldn't get enough of his taste; I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this must be what ambrosia, the food of the gods, tasted like. This was my Edward. Yes, mine!

So, did I make it too easy on Edward? Should Bella have made him keep stuttering for longer? LOL

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Thanks to all the new readers that are following the story. I have saved my alerts of new followers and promise to read your stories as well if you write too. Hope you are enjoying this story. Don't hesitate to let me know what you think!


	24. A Day Together, Chapter 23

Characters and base story line belong to S. Meyer. Twists and turns belong to me.

A special thanks to emmadtf2 for your wonderful reviews. They always give me a laugh and really do inspire the muse. I'm so happy you are enjoying the story so far.

And a shout out to ermagee .. thanks so much for your review of the story. It was wonderfully inspiring to hear that you couldn't stop reading the story when you started it. It made my day :-)

I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it took a bit to get it out of my head in the right way.

**________________________________________________________________**

A Day Together - Chapter Twenty-Three

**Edward's POV**

Mine! My Bella! I felt Bella's fingers gripping my hair, drawing me deeper into our kiss. I heard her moan and felt my dick twitch at the sound. All of my senses were filled with her taste and scent. I had a new favourite taste, strawberries. I couldn't get enough of her. My hands wandered down her back, pulling her lower body closer to mine. She moaned again as my right hand moved up her back to her neck. I moved my mouth along her jaw to her neck, scattering small hard kisses along the way. Instinctively, she tilted her head to give me access. As I reached her shoulder, I buried my face into the crook of her neck and took several deep breathes. When I had regained some control, I leaned back to look in her eyes.

Her eyes were at half mast and glazed with lust which made me harder than I was before, if that could even be remotely possible. I pulled her closer and kissed her again. I felt her fingers dig deeper into my hair to pull on it. The feeling was so intense I almost came right there and then. I had wanted her for what felt like forever but in reality had only been a few weeks. Having her in my arms was the most erotic thing I had ever experienced. None of my other sexual experiences even compared to being with Bella and we hadn't even had sex yet. This was amazing. I eased us down so that she was laying over me, our bodies pressed intimately together. I wasn't sure how long we laid there exploring one another but I knew that I had to stop soon or my iron control was going to turn to dust.

"Bella, we have to stop."

She pulled away from me and slowly released my hair from her fingers. She looked into my eyes; I could see the disappointment in them. She then looked around, suddenly realizing that we were still out in the meadow. She blushed and looked away from me. I reached my hand over and with one finger under her chin, turned her face back to mine.

"Never feel embarrassed about the passion you feel, Bella. It's a beautiful thing for me to see."

Looking into her beautiful brown eyes, I saw the emotions she felt for me. I couldn't believe that it was all for me, that after over 100 years, I might actually feel the connection that I saw the rest of my family have on a daily basis.

I looked at the sky and noticed that more clouds were coming in from the west. Apparently Alice's weather prediction was a little off today.

"We should head back into town."

"But it's early!"

"If you don't want to go home, we could go to my place. If you'd like that is."

Bella's eyes widened. "You mean meet your mom?"

"Well, as far as I know, Esme will be home. The rest should be there too except maybe Carlisle. I'm not sure if he's working at the hospital or not today. His shifts got a little muddled up when Dr. Carter got sick the other week and Carlisle covered for him."

"That sounds okay, I guess"

I looked at her closely for a minute then started to laugh. "Let me get this right, you aren't nervous to be inside a house with a bunch of Vampires, you're nervous that Esme might not like you?"

She reached for the CD player to turn it off and I grabbed her hand bringing it to my lips.

"Bella, what happened before. We have to be careful. I can't ever lose control with you. I'm stronger than you, I could hurt you."

Bella laughed. "Edward, you worry too much. The upside of being a shape-shifter is that I heal fast and I'm a lot stronger than I look."

"Still, I could hurt or kill you without even meaning to."

**Bella's POV**

I couldn't believe how much time had passed since we told each other that we knew what the other was. Did that make sense? I had to admit, watching Edward stutter his way through trying to tell me what he was had been a little amusing. I realized again that Alice really did have an evil sense of humour and apparently Edward was at the brunt of it.

It had felt so wonderful to be in his arms. Kissing him, tasting him. I had wanted it to last forever. I'd hoped for it for so long or at least it felt like a long time. It'd actually only been a few weeks, if the truth be told. I was sure if Charlie had been in my head while I had this conversation, he would definitely be on about me being way too young to know what I wanted, no matter what I felt. I knew Edward was forever. He was mine and I was going to have him, come hell or high-water.

When he pulled away, I was ready to grab him again but I knew he was right. No matter how much I wanted him, and I did want him so badly that my stomach was tight and actually hurt, this really wasn't the place. I was embarrassed at how powerful my feelings were. It wasn't like me to act like this. I was like an animal and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.

We packed up the picnic supplies and headed towards the jeep. We didn't talk much on the drive there. I knew I was reliving the kiss over and over again myself but I wasn't sure what Edward was thinking about. I caught him looking at me a few times during the drive with a little smirk on his lips and his eyes would darken when they met mine.

We pulled up to the Cullen house and Edward was instantly on my side of the jeep. I didn't even have a chance to open it before he had the door open and was reaching in to help me down. The second I put my foot on the ground, I was accosted by a body slamming into me. Alice, of course. She hugged me so hard that I had to tap her hard on the back to get her to loosen up.

"Alice, can't breathe."

Alice let me go and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Geez, Alice, it's almost like getting one from Jake."

Edward's head instantly turned towards me, his eyes looking sharply to mine. "Jake?"

"He's just a friend of the family from the Quileute tribe, Edward."

He nodded but I could tell that my mentioning another guy had really bothered him. I actually got a tingly feeling all over my body. I'd never had a someone be jealous about me before. I could see now why the girls in Arizona almost went out of their way to make their boyfriends jealous. It certainly was a heady feeling.

I walked over and put my hand on Edward's arm and could feel the tension in his body, "Really, he's just a friend. Someone I just re-met recently actually but Charlie has been friends with his dad for many years. They do fishing trips together."

The tension in his arm dissipated some but didn't completely go away. Alice hopped over to us and grabbed my arm, dragging me away from Edward towards the house. I gave him a helpless look and he just smiled at me and shrugged. I guess he was right though, how can you do anything other than what Alice wanted you to?

She dragged me along and as we walked into the front door of this stunningly beautiful house, made of glass and cedar, there was a beautiful woman with caramel coloured hair not much taller than Alice standing right in the foyer. I knew instantly it was Esme, Edward's mother. I knew she wasn't actually his mother but he did love her like one. As she caught sight of me, her face lit up and her arms opened wide. I was engulfed in a tight hug at just the right pressure which I returned hesitantly. She let me go and stepped back to turn to Edward.

"She's beautiful, Edward. I see why you feel the way you do."

I turned to look inquiringly at him but he just averted his eyes. I smiled to myself. So he'd been talking to Esme about me. This was a good thing, wasn't it?

We heard a car coming up the driveway and I turned to see a dark Mercedes sedan pulling into the garage. Esme's face lit up as Dr. Cullen came up the steps. She ran to him and he caught her in his arms with a matching smile on his face. Alice and Edward just looked at them with big grins. Apparently this was what happened every time they saw each other.

After greeting Esme, Dr. Cullen turned to me. "Good afternoon, Bella. It's nice to see you again."

"Hi, Dr. Cullen."

"Bella, please call me Carlisle."

I nodded my head in acknowledgment of his request and turned again to Edward. I realised that although we knew what the other of us was, him a vampire and I a shape-shifter, we hadn't really talked about it. I thought maybe we should so before I went home.

"Edward, we should talk." I realized as the words left my mouth that I should probably have put that in a completely different way and I was right as Edward turned towards me and I saw the look on his face.

**Edward's POV**

I wasn't sure why but it felt like my stomach dropped as I heard Bella say the words "we should talk". I was pretty sure I hadn't done anything but I knew those words can be quite ominous in relationships which is what I was hopeful that Bella and I were moving towards. The thoughts of human males that I had heard over the years were not encouraging memories as I turned to her wondering what she needed to talk about.

I turned to look at her and saw that her eyes were wide open when they met mine. I realized then that she hadn't meant the words she said in quite the way she'd said them.

She looked around at Alice, Esme and Carlisle as though to let me know she wasn't sure about talking around them. "Bella, it's okay. They pretty much know everything and they already know that you're a shape-shifter."

Carlisle's eyes lit up as I said this. "Oh, Bella! I have so many questions about that!"

Bella started laughing and we all looked at her questioningly. When she finally got control of herself she answered Carlisle. "I probably have as many questions as you all do. I found out about shape-shifters just before coming to Forks.'

I couldn't believe my ears. She had just found out about shape-shifters? How did that work?

"Bella, what do you mean that you just found out? You mean you didn't know what you were before that?"

Carlisle cleared his throat and I looked at him. "Maybe we would be more comfortable in the living room, Edward?"

"Oh! Of course!" I took Bella's hand and led her into the living room. I sat down on the couch and pulled her down beside me. Esme and Carlisle sat down on the sofa across from us. Alice seemed to have disappeared a few minutes after Carlisle arrived, probably to go look for Jasper.

Carlisle looked at Bella, seemingly waiting for her to answer the questions I had asked in the foyer. She admitted that her parents hadn't told her anything about the Quileute shape-shifters until very recently when she started to have symptoms of changing. Carlisle looked fascinated while she was explaining her symptoms up to this point and what Billy had explained about the origins of the shape-shifting.

He looked like a kid in a candy store, or an evil mad scientist, as I could see the wheels turning in his head over the information she'd shared with him. I knew he was thinking he would love to get his hands on a sample of DNA from a full blooded Quileute shape-shifter to compare with the results he got testing Bella's blood.

Bella went on to tell us that she actually didn't know how much of a shape-shifter she really was.

"What do you mean? I thought everyone from the lineage were shape-shifters?" I asked, knowing that Carlisle and Esme were just as curious as I was.

"Apparently not, according to Billy, I may or may not actually be able to shift. Some that aren't full blooded Quileute do and some do not. The change also takes longer than normal if you're not full Quileute. Direct descendants with Quileute on both sides can make the transformation within a few weeks or so. Those of us that aren't, can take up to months to completely finish the transformation, depending on how much they will be physically changed. It's been a couple of months for me so far since it started so I may be one of the few that can shift into the totem animal of the tribe, which is a wolf."

"What are you if you don't change completely?" this from Carlisle again although I was also interested in the answer. What effect will her transformation have on us?

Bella shrugged and looked down at our hands that were entwined on my thigh, "That really hasn't been explained to me yet. They keep saying that they have to wait and see what happens. So far, like I said before, I constantly have a temperature, which is why I didn't think anything of it when I first touched Alice, everyone seems cold to me now. I am stronger now which is how I was able to throw Mike Newton across the hallway." She looked at me and smiled a little which I returned.

I saw Carlisle and Esme look at each other after witnessing the smile between us and then looked back at me. I guess that was something I'd forgotten to mention but I was surprised that Emmett hadn't said anything about it.

My thoughts were drawn back as I realized that Bella was talking again. "The only other symptom I have now is my ability to heal quickly, which is a nice side effect of all this, considering all of my clumsiness."

So, knowing that Bella was a shape-shifter in theory and actually KNOWING it were completely different things it seems. My mind was starting to reel from the knowledge. What exactly will this mean for us? I suddenly had this fear that she could be taken away from me. I shifted on the couch and put my arm around her shoulders to draw her close to me. She melted into my side like it was second nature for us. We just fit together. Like peas in a pod. Vampires and blood. *snicker* Wolves and the moon. Alright, talk about getting corny.

"Is it painful? The transformation, that is." Carlisle asked.

"It hasn't been so far. It's just been uncomfortable. I have heard though that the full transformation can be painful and the first time you shift is excruciating."

I was sure that I had a look of horror on my face. I knew for sure when Esme delicately cleared her throat and I changed my expression when Bella turned to look up at me. My Bella was going to go through pain? My thoughts instantly went back to my transformation and the pain that I went through. I was horrified that Bella would have to experience that depth of agony.

Esme stood up at this point, grabbing Carlisle's hand. "I think that's enough talk about this for now. Edward, why don't you show Bella around the house, maybe show her the music room."

She dragged Carlisle out of the room towards his office and left Bella and I alone in the living room. I reached for Bella's hand and led her out into the hall and up the stairs. I pointed out the various bedrooms and Carlisle's office then headed up another set of stairs and straight down the hall to a closed door. I opened the door and motioned for her to go first. She stopped just inside the door and I almost ran right into her. I grabbed her hips to prevent her from falling and she stood there gaping around the room. It was filled wall to ceiling with shelves for music. CDs and collector LPs filled every available space. Standing in the middle of the room was my other grand piano. This was the room that no one but I used. The other piano was fair game for anyone in the house but this room was all mine. The room was soundproof so I could play and compose at any time of the day or not without disturbing anyone. It had been my haven for as long as I could remember. Every house we had, had a room exactly like this one.

We hung around in the music room for a few hours before I heard a growling sound coming from Bella's stomach. I saw her face redden as she placed her hand over it. She giggled as she looked up at me.

"It's time to feed the shape-shifter. Another side affect seems to be an appetite."

We went downstairs to say good night to Carlisle and Esme, at which point, I realized just how long we'd been up there. Charlie was probably wondering where Bella was although since he thought she was with Alice, I'm sure he wasn't worried about it.

"Alice!" I yelled out as we passed her and Jasper's room.

Immediately, the door opened, "Time for Bella to go home?"

I nodded to her and continued downstairs.

"Be there in a minute Edward!"

Alice and I had decided that if Bella was going to use Alice as an excuse to be gone all day, Alice was going to have to drive her home. Bella looked at me in surprise and I realized I'd forgotten to let her in on the plan.

"Alice will give you a lift home. I don't think your Dad would appreciate me dropping you off."

She put her arms around me and hugged me tight, reaching up to kiss me. I deepened the kiss and didn't hear Alice until she was right beside us.

"I'll call you tomorrow, Bella." She gave me a little wave good-bye as I watched her and Alice drive off down the driveway.

It was going to be a long night and the first thing on my agenda now, was a nice ice cold shower.

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Thanks to those that are reading and reviewing the story.


	25. First Time, Chapter 24

Characters and major points of the story belong to Twilight and S. Meyer, a few twists and turns are all mine.

Welcome new readers! Please feel free to drop your 2 cents into a review and let me know what you think :-)

You may have noticed that my take on vampires is a little different than S. Meyers since mine can actually eat food and enjoy it (if you watch the movie Twilight, you can actually see Kellan eating in one of the cafeteria scenes LOL)

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**First Time - Chapter Twenty Four**

**Bella's POV**

I went to bed that night thinking about the best day I'd ever had. My dreams were filled with Edward Cullen. They were so real; it almost felt that he was right in the room with me. At one point, I even woke up and imagined that he was standing at the foot of the bed. I ended up sleeping in so that by the time I woke up; Charlie had already left for work.

I had no idea what I was going to do today but grocery shopping was definitely on my list. Edward and I hadn't made plans and when I opened the curtains of my room, I knew why. The sun was once again shining brightly which meant that the Cullen's wouldn't be coming anywhere near town today.

I had just grabbed my cell phone to head downstairs when it vibrated in my hand.

_Good morning, Bella E_

My heart skipped a beat, as it always did when I thought of Edward.

_Good morning, Edward B_

I headed down the stairs and got another message as I turned down the hallway to the kitchen.

_What are your plans for the day? E_

I laughed, thinking about the excitement of the grocery store.

_Just shopping for the house. B_

_Well, as I'm sure you've figured out, Alice and I won't be going into town today. E_

_Yeah, I saw the sun. Hope you find something to occupy yourself. B_

_The family was actually wondering if you'd like to come out the house today. Emmett and Rose weren't happy that they missed you yesterday. They hadn't figured that we'd be here so they took off by themselves. E_

_That sounds like fun! I just have to make sure Charlie's okay with it. Let me call him and get back to you. B_

_Okay, let us know. E_

By the end of the texting conversation, my heart was beating rapidly. I had another opportunity to see Edward this weekend! It was more than I could have hoped for when Edward had asked me to spend some time with him yesterday.

I went through the cupboards to make sure I wasn't missing anything off the grocery list I'd made during the past week, grabbed my truck keys and headed out. I decided to just stop at the station and ask Charlie about going to the Cullen's later. Shopping went quickly and as I was leaving the store, my phone rang with a wolf howl. My brow ceased because I knew I hadn't programmed that one in my phone. I looked at the display and had to laugh. Jake must have gotten a hold of my phone somehow last weekend and put his number in with a ringtone.

"_Hi Jake."_

"_Hey, Bella."_

"_How are you? I haven't talked to you since dinner last weekend other than the Newton throwing incident."_

"_Yeah, sorry I haven't been around this week. It was a particularly bad one as far as the transformation went. I didn't do much of anything but am feeling much better now. You probably won't even recognize me. How are you doing? Any significant problems since you threw Newton?" _ Jake replied with a bit of a laugh and I wasn't quite sure how to place the tone in his voice.

I laughed. _"Jake, I don't think there is anyway that I couldn't recognize you and no, nothing since I went all Hulk like over Mike."_

"_Anyway Bella I was just wondering what you're up to today. Would you like to do something?"_

"_I actually just made plans with a friend for later and I'm just heading to the station to talk to Charlie for a moment. Are you busy right now? We could have lunch or something if you want? The diner sound okay?"_

"_Sure, that sounds great! I'll be right there." _

I ran into the station quickly to let Charlie know I was having lunch with Jake and spending dinner over at the Cullen's. He was okay with the plans since he'd planned on going over to Billy's to watch the game anyway. He'd forgotten to leave me a note when he was called in a little early.

I waved a quick good bye to him and headed over to the diner. Jake had beaten me there and gotten a table in the back. He was actually right for once. I almost didn't recognize him. In just a week, he had cut his hair shorter, grown probably 5 inches and bulked out like, funnily enough, the Incredible Hulk. Wow. I now knew why all the female servers in the diner had looked stunned when I walked in. Talk about testosterone overload.

I wasn't immune myself in appreciating Jake's new physique but that was as far as my feelings in the matter went. We had gotten to know each other since I'd first arrived in Forks and had talked to him and Billy about the Quileute legends and shape-shifting. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he'll always be one of the most important people in my life, one of my best friends but more like family. I really hoped that Edward wasn't going to have a problem with it. I knew from his reaction yesterday that he was quite capable of jealousy.

I sat down across from him and smiled at him. I casually looked around the diner and saw that all the girls were glaring at me. Turning back to him, I asked if I should watch my back.

He looked at me in surprise, like he didn't know what I was talking about and I quirked my eyebrow at him.

"Really?" I chuckled at him. He'd always been good-looking but his shape-shifting transformation had not only made him look totally hot, it'd also given him a dangerous edge that was very compelling and I was pretty sure that all the girls in the diner had noticed that he had pulled up on a motorcycle.

"You should talk, Bella. You're looking pretty good yourself." He leered at me jokingly.

I blushed. "Yeah, whatever, Jake."

He laughed loudly which got everyone in the diner looking at us again.

"So, what's up with you?"

"Well, looks like my transformation is done now. Leah's brother Seth, who's a couple of years younger than us, is going through it now. He seems to be having a harder time of it than the rest of us"

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, Jake. I hope he'll be okay."

"Anyway, enough about that. What have you been up to this week? Anything exciting besides making fellow students take unexpected flying lessons?"

I laughed again at Jake and blushed. "Hey, you said it was instinctive! No fair making fun of me."

"I know, I know. But I really love seeing you blush!" Jake smirked at me.

We caught up over lunch and we made plans to meet again next weekend if not sooner. It felt so easy to talk to Jake. He was kindred. I had a connection with Alice but my connection to Jake was on a whole different level. Of course, it was nothing like the connection I felt with Edward. My life was getting a lot more complicated than what it had been a few months ago.

I headed home to throw the groceries into the cupboards. Since neither of us was going to be home tonight for dinner, I threw some stuff into the slow cooker for tomorrow. This way I could just throw it on when I left for school in the morning and it would be done when Charlie and I got home.

I was just contemplating on whether I was supposed to drive over to the Cullen's myself when I heard a horn honk outside. I ran to the door to see Edward's car in the driveway and he was starting to walk towards the door. I grabbed my coat and ran outside, flinging myself at him. It may have not even been 24 hours since I had said goodbye at his house last night, but I'd really missed him. It felt like a part of myself had been missing all day.

He caught me in his arms as I hit him at full speed and grunted from the impact. I reached up and kissed him. He kissed me back with a passion I will always yearn for and I didn't want to let go.

**Edward's POV**

I was almost bowled over by the impact of Bella's body when it hit mine. She reached up and kissed me and I instantly returned it. I'd missed the feel of her. Her taste. Her smell.

Wait a minute! What the hell was that smell? I kissed along her cheek and inhaled deeply. She didn't smell right. There was something besides her smell on her. There was something different and masculine about it. Deep down I could feel a possessive feeling coming over me. She was mine! Is this what jealousy felt like? No one was going to take her from me. I almost felt like marking her, like an animal. Where the hell did that come from?

"Bella? What is that smell?"

Bella leaned back to look at me with a question in her eyes. "What smell?"

I shook my head, "Never mind."

I kissed her quickly and led her over to the car. I was grateful that she had decided to accept the invite to dinner tonight. I didn't think I could last until Monday at school to see her again. She was truly becoming my addiction of choice.

We got to the house just as Esme was setting the table. Like I said earlier, we don't have to eat to sustain our lives, blood does that, but we liked to indulge our senses and Esme had become addicted to the cooking shows over the years. She liked to make various dishes for us to try. We never knew what she would surprise us with but it was always good.

After dinner everyone decided to hang out in the living room and watch movies. We were sitting on the couch close together, her hand was resting on my thigh and I was surprised she couldn't feel the heat generating from my dick. I was trying to keep my mind away from those kinds of thoughts while in the presence of Esme; it wasn't working too well at this point. I really wanted to get Bella alone for a while but I wasn't too sure on how she would feel about it. I guess the only thing to do was just bite the bullet and ask. In a flash, the words "ASK HER" shouted in my head.

I leaned down and whispered in her ear. She nodded and I excused us to the rest of the family. We headed upstairs to my music room. She headed to couch and I to the piano to play her song for her.

After that, I played Esme's song and looked over at Bella. She had moved to recline on the couch and I had this overwhelming urge to join her there. I got up and turned on the CD player with the remote.

Bella watched me as I walked slowly across the room to her, I could see her eyes darkening as I got closer. I leaned down to kiss her as she moved up to meet me halfway. I felt her hands reach up and grab my hair like she did before, pulling me down to the couch. I turned her so that her body was across mine as I sat down. I felt her moan and the vibrations coursed throughout my body.

A few minutes into our kiss, I felt her shift so that she straddled my lap. My dick reacted by surging against my pants, feeling her heat through our clothes. I tried to shift her a little away from me so my hard on wasn't so obvious but apparently, that was not what she wanted. Her grip in my hair became more painful as she pressed herself on me. My hands settled on her hips and drew her even closer. I trailed kisses down her throat to her collar bone and felt her shiver, her hands moving from my hair to grip my shoulders as she leaned back to give me access.

"Bella." I moaned, my hands running down her sides to the bottom of her T-shirt.

She moaned in response and whispered, "Yes Edward. Please!"

I gripped the bottom of her shirt and slowly raised it up over her head, breaking contact briefly before kissing my way to the top of her breasts. She moaned deeply and once again gripped my hair, holding me tightly against her. I could feel her rolling her hips against me which was creating enough friction to make both of us moan deeply. I knew she didn't have any experience but apparently her instincts were in full gear.

I swept her bra aside and kissed my way to her nipple which was beaded from her body's reaction to the passion between us. I took it between my lips and sucked gently. She moaned again and I felt her hands move down to my shirt, trying to pull it off of me. I moved my upper body away slightly and allowed her to take off my shirt. The feeling of her bare skin against mine almost had me coming in that moment. I took a few deep breathes, garnered some control and laved her nipple with my tongue before nipping it gently with my teeth. She gasped and gave a little scream before her body quivered from head to toe.

I let one of my hands roam down her side to the front clasp of her pants, testing the waters. She moved slightly away from me to give me access and I unclasped the button and zipper of her jeans. I moved us slightly so we were lying side by side on the wide couch with her facing away from me. She shivered a little when my cool hand slid into her pants and my fingers reached along her skin to her folds. She was soaking wet for me. I moaned in reaction and my dick gotten even harder and surged against her ass. She instinctively moved against it.

From our new position I could look down into her face and the exhilarated expression on it. She was a sight to behold. In all my experiences, I don't think I have ever been more turned on than I was at that very moment. I moved my fingers slightly along her wetness to her clit and rubbed small circles. Her head snapped up, her eyes meeting mine. I could see the passion and pleasure in them and the knowledge that I was giving her this gave me a warm feeling inside. I was doing this for her.

I slid my fingers back down and inserted one into her. She rolled her hips so my finger went in deeper. "More," she moaned. I added another finger and pulled them in and out of her.

I added another finger and continued pumping them. Her moans were getting faster and faster. "Come for me baby. Come for me." I whispered in her ear as I kissed down her neck. I felt her body start to tense and then she screamed her release. I brought her lips to mine for a deep kiss. When her body finished quivering, I buried my face in her neck and hugged her tightly.

Slowly her breathing slowed down and she relaxed in my arms before leaning up to kiss me. Then she looked up at me and blushed.

"What? You okay?" I asked her. I could tell she was a little embarrassed and wanted to make sure she was okay with what we had just done.

"I'm fine, Edward. It's just that .. " she blushed again. "What about you?"

"Bella, this wasn't about me. It was beyond description that I could make you feel the way I just did."

She shifted on the couch and sat up, adjusting her pants and putting on her shirt. I grabbed my shirt from the floor and put it on as well getting up and reaching down for her hand, pulling her up into my arms and hugging her tightly. I felt her arms go around my waist and we just stood there for a few minutes.

"I should probably get you home now," I said realizing it was after 7pm and there was school tomorrow. I was pretty sure Chief Swan was strict when it came to that.

She squeezed me more tightly and nodded her head against my chest. "School tomorrow."

We passed Alice on the way downstairs and she gave us a smirk and Bella a quick hug.

"See you at school, Bella. Love you!" Bella bushed again but returned the hug and we continued on downstairs. Everyone else was still in the living room so we stuck our heads in to say goodnight.

Charlie wasn't yet home when we got there so I walked Bella to the door and kissed her good night. I didn't really want to leave; I found I was becoming increasingly possessive of her. I almost wondered if what I did tonight was a direct result of that different scent I had smelled on her and my reaction to it. I sat in the car for a few minutes until I saw the light go on in her bedroom and then drove home. I had a bit of thinking to do.

So .. First lemony scene.. let me know what you thought. Good ? Bad? LOL

I find that reviews make me update faster .. I can see how they can become addicting!

Cool story recommendations:

Emancipation Proclamation - kharizzmatik

The Office - tby789

Art After 5 - sleepyvalentina

Clipped Wings and Inked Armor - hunterhunting

Feel free to Twitter me at mahika / .com/mahika


	26. Caleb, Chapter 25

Characters and base story line belong to S. Meyer. Twists, turns and new characters belong to me.

Thanks for the reviews of the last chapter and all the new readers of the story. I'm glad that it has captured your attention and you're enjoying it.

Story Recommendations: The Ex Factor: Bella & Edward by AngelAtTwilight – awesome story that I just can't stop reading! Check it out!

So, it can't be all easy now can it. Hope you enjoy a new twist in the story.

**________________________________________________________________**

**Caleb - Chapter Twenty Five**

**Bella's POV**

I woke up to the screaming of my alarm, jarring me out of the most fantastic dream of Edward that I'd had since seeing him on the first day of school. I flung my hand out, keeping my eyes closed, trying to hold onto the vision behind my eyelids.

The screaming continued and I realized I'd knocked the alarm clock off the table without actually hitting the off button. I moaned and sat up, running my hands through my hair as I did so. I leaned down, grabbed the alarm clock and hit the snooze for 10 minutes.

I usually hate Mondays. But this Monday was different. I'd be seeing Edward. Soon. I lay back down on my bed, closed my eyes and thought about yesterday. My dream last night had been about yesterday and what happened between us in the music room. But it was more than that. We went further in my dream than we had in reality. Now it's true I didn't really have any thing to compare my dream to but if being with Edward will be anything like I dreamed last night, my body was going to blow apart in ecstasy.

I couldn't believe how he made me feel. Just thinking about it now made me hot and wet. I stretched and thought about his hands on my body, his lips on mine. I wasn't sure how I was going to survive being in school and unable to touch him like I wanted to. Not that he let me do what I wanted anyway. Even though we had only been intimate this past weekend, I knew that I was going to have a problem keeping my hands off of him. And I also knew that we were going to have a problem when it came to his protectiveness of me. He'd taken over what was happening between us in the music room yesterday so that he wouldn't lose complete control of the situation. I knew he was afraid of hurting me with his vampire strength, and I knew that I was going to have to figure out a way for us to be together in every way. I wasn't about to let him rob me of the experience of being with him completely.

I was going to have to talk with Alice about this.

The alarm started blaring for the second time and I reluctantly got out of bed. I knew Charlie was already gone for the day so I didn't bother with a robe as I headed to the bathroom to shower for the day. I was just finishing getting dressed when I heard my phone go off with Edward's ringtone. I loved that Alice had programmed his as Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon. I just hoped Charlie was never around when he called, I thought with a giggle.

_Hello? _

_Good morning Bella. _As soon as I heard his voice, my knees went weak. I reached out to the wall to support myself. How could just his voice over the phone have this affect on me?

_Bella? Are you okay?_

_Oh, sorry. Good morning Edward. I'm fine, especially now that you called. _

I heard his chuckle through the phone. _I was wondering if you wanted a ride to school this morning._

My breath caught in anticipation that I could spend more time with him. _YES! I'm ready anytime. _

He laughed this time, apparently appreciating my enthusiasm to be with him. I could feel myself blush.

_Be there soon. _

I was just getting to the door when I heard his car pull in the driveway.

The week went on like that, Edward picking me up in the morning and dropping me off after school. I spend some evenings at the Cullen's house and a couple with Angela although she spent more time with Ben these days.

Angela and Ben still sat with me at the "Cullen's" table in the cafeteria and we talked everyday but it wasn't the same as before I moved to Forks. Angela needed me more then but I was happy for her. I knew she was really into Ben and I was happy to see them together and that Ben had torn himself away from that creepy Mike Newton and his pack of idiots.

Mike still hadn't said a single thing to me since I tossed him across the hallway but I had the feeling that I hadn't heard the last of it. Edward thought he was up to something but he seemed to be biding his time. I wasn't really worried because I knew that Emmett, Jasper and Edward were all on the look out for anything that he might try. Even Rose had threatened to kick his ass if he tried anything.

I hadn't told Charlie about the incident since I was pretty sure he would have gone all protective Dad over it. I just didn't want that drama. I still had to tell him that I was seeing Edward and wasn't sure how he was going to handle that. On Wednesday night he came home and informed me that we were going to be having dinner with Billy and Jake on Saturday night. I was torn because I had thought I'd be spending the weekend with Edward and Alice and the rest of the Cullen's but I also missed spending time with Jacob. We'd only met when I arrived in Forks a few weeks ago but I felt a kinship with him that I didn't even feel with my parents.

Edward wasn't too happy that I had to go to the reservation with Charlie and wasn't shy about voicing that displeasure. I remember how he acted when he'd smelt me after my lunch with Jacob, and dare I say, it excited me that I might get the same reaction again this time? I know, pathetic wasn't it?

I hadn't gone through any more changes for a while but Billy had said that it might go like that. Carlisle still tried to ask me questions about the stuff that was changing in me physically but there was just some stuff I wasn't comfortable talking to him about. I sort of missed my mom right now. There were things that I was definitely not going to be talking to Charlie about, no way, no how. I guess I could talk to Alice but I wasn't sure she could really understand.

When Saturday came around, I was ready and waiting for Charlie to get home so we could head out for dinner when my phone rang. My heard skipped a beat. It was Edward's ringtone.

_Hi. _I smiled into the phone, really happy to be able to talk to him at least once today.

_Hi Bella. Alice has informed us that there is going to be a thunderstorm tomorrow afternoon and I wanted to know if you'd like to come and play baseball with us. _

_Ah. Baseball? Uhm, Edward, you remember who you're talking to right? Bella, the klutz. I don't do sports very well. And why are you playing baseball in a thunderstorm._

_You'll see why. Esme says you can be umpire. _I could almost see him smirking through the phone. _She thinks we cheat._

_Oh, okay. That sounds alright then. I'll ask Charlie. He hasn't mentioned having plans tomorrow so it should be okay. I'll phone you later when we get back from dinner. _

_Yeah, right. Dinner. That's tonight isn't it. _He growled into the phone.

_Yes, Edward. Tonight is dinner with the Blacks. I should be home by 10ish so I'll call as soon as I get home. I'll miss you._

_I miss you too. _I knew he wasn't happy with me being around Jake but he was just going to have to trust me. I said goodnight and hung up just as Charlie came in the front door.

"Let me just change quickly Bells and then we can head over to the Black's."

I was surprised to see so many cars parked around the Black house when we got there. I had thought it was only going to be the 4 of us at dinner. We walked up path to the house and I saw Billy sitting out on the porch in his wheelchair. He smiled widely as we approached.

"Hey Bella! Hey Charlie! It's great that you could make dinner. It sort of took on a life of its own and developed into a potlatch. I hope you don't mind. Most of these guys are from the tribe."

I looked in through the open door and my mouth dropped open. Inside the house were a whole bunch of the most gorgeous guys I'd ever seen, besides Edward that is. They all had short dark hair, were something close to 7 feet tall and were built like body builders. It was like walking into a room full of testosterone. There must have been about 10 of them all milling around the living room and kitchen area. I was amazed that the house could hold them all. I spotted Jake standing and talking with a younger boy that didn't seem quite as big as the rest. He looked over just as I spotted him and gave me a little smile and wave. The boy with him looked over at me too with a big grin on his face. They made their way over to me and Jake introduced me to Seth. As we shook hands, I felt the heat from his and realized that this was the Seth that Jake had mentioned at lunch, Leah's brother.

As I stood there talking to Jake and Seth, I realized that almost every one of the guys in the house had come by to be introduced to me, with the exception of one that stood over on the other side of the room looking at me with a curious expression on his face. He was beautiful in a totally different way than the Quileute. He was tall and muscular but not as buff as the rest of the guys in the room; his dark hair was down to his shoulders and seemed to have a bluish highlight to it from the light in the room. His eyes were a piercing dark blue. His face was classically handsome; deep set eyes, straight nose, square jaw and full lips. Something about him mesmerized me, drew me in. I was wondering why he didn't come over when Jake turned his head towards him to see what I was look at. He looked away as he noticed our attention turned to him.

"Oh, that's Caleb. He's a part shape-shifter like you. He just arrived today from out east and he seems almost shy around the rest of us."

"Well," I replied, "you guys are sort of intimidating when you're all together like this. It's the first time I've been around you all and I know exactly how he feels."

Jake laughed at me. "Oh come on Bells. We're just a bunch of softies."

I laughed with him, feeling at ease as I always did when in his presence. I knew that there were a quite a few of them that had gone through the transformation but had only actually been around Jake since moving to Forks. Billy had planned to get everyone together sooner or later to introduce me to the whole pack but I'd have thought I'd have some kind of notice or something. If Caleb did feel intimidated by the pack, I can't say that I blamed him in any way.

I excused myself to Jake and wandered over towards Caleb deciding to see if I could put him at ease. I could feel Jake watching me while I walked away from him and Seth. When I reached where he was standing, he looked at me with those piercing eyes. Our eyes met and I almost lost my balance at the sheer impact of his gaze. I hadn't been this affected by someone since I first set my eyes on Edward.

"Hi. I'm Bella."

"Hi. Caleb."

"I'm part shape-shifter too so I thought I would come over and introduce myself. You seemed like you feel out of place here and I know how you feel."

He gave me a small smile. "You didn't seem very uncomfortable from where I'm standing."

"That's just because I was with my friend Jacob. He's a pretty good guy. Have you met him?"

"Yeah, I'm actually staying with the Black's while I'm here learning about what I am."

"Oh. Jake didn't say anything. Well, Billy's a great guy. He's helped me a lot to understand what all is going on with me even though we are still a bit of a mystery in the whole thing."

"Yeah, well. I wish this wasn't happening to me. I had my life planned out which didn't involve being some sort of freak." He growled out, grimacing over the word freak.

I was startled at his aggressive reaction. I wasn't 100 percent happy about being part shape-shifter either but I'd started to realize that I wasn't a monster because of it; just like Edward wasn't a monster because he was a vampire.

"Are you still in school? Are you going to be attending Forks while you're here?"

"Yeah, I just turned 17, so I have a year to go. My parents sent me here to stay with the tribe but since I'm not of recent Quileute descent and don't have my status, I have to go to the town school."

"Well, maybe I'll see you there. But I spend a lot of time with my boyfriend and his family." I told him with a smile.

"Bella?" I froze as I heard the question from behind me. I turned slowly to see Charlie standing behind me with a confused look on his face. "Boyfriend?"

I closed my eyes with a sense of dread. This wasn't exactly the way I wanted Charlie to find out about Edward, especially with all the Quileute around. I saw Jake looking around Charlie's shoulder with a quizzical look on his face too.

"Ah, yeah. Dad, about that. I was going to talk to you tonight when we got home."

"I'm going to be pretty interested in what you have to say about the subject, Bells."

Billy announced dinner was laid out and ready to be served. I grabbed what I wanted and went to find a place to sit. I noticed Leah sitting alone on the front porch so I went out to sit with her. I'd met her briefly while I was talking to Jake and Seth but hadn't really had a chance to talk to her. She gave me a little smile as I sat next to her.

"Hey." Wow, talk about an intelligent start to a conversation, I thought.

"Hi." She looked like she wanted to say more but wasn't sure how. "So, how are you feeling?"

"Actually not too bad, I haven't gone through any more physical changes since I've been here. My temperature is still above normal though." There was more going on than that but I'd just met her and I wasn't really ready to talk about it with anyone yet.

"Wow, I wish it was that easy for me." She met my eyes briefly and looked away.

I looked at her in surprise. When we had first talked with Billy about me, he'd let me know that it was actually quite rare for a girl to start the transformation, full blooded shape-shifter or not.

"Uhm. You're transforming too?"

"Yeah. Only Billy, Jake and Seth know about it. We haven't told the rest of the pack yet."

"Oh. Wow." I didn't know what to say.

We sat there for a few minutes eating in silence when she looked over at me.

"I was wondering, could I call you sometimes to talk? We're the only girls going through this that I know of and I'd sure appreciate if I could talk to someone about stuff."

She surprised me once again. I looked at her thoughtfully for a few minutes. I really could use someone to talk to about stuff that was going on. Stuff I hadn't talked to anyone about yet. I suddenly had an idea. "Sure Leah. That sounds good. Would you be interested in going to lunch tomorrow and talk?"

Leah's face lit up. "That would be great Bella! Thanks!"

We finished eating and I went inside to find Charlie. It looked like he was ready to go too so we said our goodbyes to the pack. As I was hugging Jake goodbye, I felt eyes on me and turned to see Caleb staring at me intensely. It made me a little uncomfortable, I felt my body flush and a shiver went down my spine. There was something about him that spoke to me. I had this sudden desperate urge to be with Edward and I just wanted to go home so I could call him.

Charlie was silent on the drive home. I knew he was going to want to talk when we got there. I just hoped he wasn't going to make a big deal out of Edward and I having a relationship.

Charlie was actually quite calm as we went into the house. He went into the living room and indicated to me that I should have a seat on the couch.

"So, a boyfriend, Bells?"

"Ah, yeah. Dad. Well .. .. "

"Bells, just spit it out."

"IvekindabeenseeingAlicesbrotherEdward." I said in a rush.

"Sorry Bella, I couldn't understand a single word you said. You've been what to whom?"

"I've been seeing Edward, Alice's brother for the last week."

"What!?! He's way too old for you!"

"Dad, he is not. We're in the same grade!"

"What? Wait a minute, which one is he?"

"He's the one with the bronze coloured hair."

He looked like he was thinking for a minute. Probably trying to figure out what Edward looked like.

"Oh. Well, that's better I guess. I'm not keen on you dating at all but at least he's the same age as you."

Plus a few decades, I thought wryly.

"And he's Alice's brother. So, I guess you can see him. But there will be rules! No sleepovers at Alice's unless her parents are there, she can come here anytime though. No being out late on school nights, midnight on weekends."

I grumbled a bit but figured it was fair for him to put rules into effect.

"Okay. I also have to tell you that I have a date with Edward tomorrow afternoon. He wants me to go play baseball with his family."

Charlie's eye widened and he looked surprised. "YOU? Play baseball?"

"I think I'm going to play umpire. It shouldn't be that hard to figure out from all the games you've made me sit through since I got here."

"Then I guess I'll say have fun. I hope they all survive."

"Oh and Dad, I'm having lunch with Leah tomorrow."

"Alright Bells. Glad to see you're making friends with some of the pack."

Since our conversation appeared to be finished, I ran upstairs to call Edward. I didn't know why but I had to talk to him. I felt really antsy. He answered on the first ring.

_Are you alright, Bella?_

_Yes, Edward, I'm fine._

It sounded like he took a deep breath.

_Good, I was getting worried. Alice kept getting weird vibes from you all evening. It was really starting to get me a little antsy, _

_We just got home. I told Charlie that you were my boyfriend tonight. Was that alright?_

_I was going to ask what you were going to tell him. _I heard the humour in his voice. _It's totally fine with me. How did he take it?_

_We have rules but he seems okay with it. He thought it was funny that you're taking me to play baseball. _

_You'll have fun Bella. I promise. _

_Okay. I should probably go to sleep. I'm having lunch with Leah tomorrow. What time are you picking me up for the game? _

_Does 2 o'clock give you enough time for your lunch?_

_That's great Edward! I can't wait to see you. I missed you today._

_Me too, Bella. Glad you called. I'd be dreaming about you tonight if I could sleep. _

_I will be dreaming about you Edward. _

We said goodbye reluctantly and I got ready to bed. As I started to drift to sleep, my thoughts on Edward, a pair of piercing dark blue eyes flashed through my mind.

**_________________________________________________________________________**

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	27. Thoughts, Chapter 26

Characters and major points of the story belong to Twilight and S. Meyer, a few twists and turns and new characters are all mine.

This chapter is going to be have a Edward POV and then a few of the other characters putting their 2 cents in to flesh out the story. Hope you enjoy it. Baseball game will be Chapter 27.

I'm grateful for all the great reviews that have been sent for the story.

Please keep in mind that although I am including the main elements of S. Meyer's book, this is a different take on the story and both Vampires and Shape-shifters so they are going to have different abilities and habits than the ones in the Saga.

**________________________________________________________________**

**Thoughts: Chapter Twenty Six**

**Edward's POV**

I was much happier now that I'd spoken with Bella. I may have only known her a few weeks but it made me extremely anxious when we were apart. It was strange and sometimes scary how much she had come to mean to me in such a short period of time. I almost felt like a part of me was missing when we weren't together. I'd seen her last night at her house for a while but it was very difficult being away from her. I couldn't place this feeling of foreboding that had been with me all day. Having her glitch out on Alice tonight didn't help my sanity either. Other than before we had actually met Bella, Alice had seen her future decisions quite clearly. We were going to have to figure out why it happened tonight because I really didn't like it. Not at all.

To kill time while she was at dinner, I talked Emmett and Jasper into hunting with me. We made it a long excursion which took us almost to the border of British Columbia. Emmett was happy to have found a bear and I found a mountain lion which was my food of choice and Jasper, well he just didn't care what he ate. He was still pretty new at being a vegetarian

I spent the rest of the night in the music room thinking about Bella and remembering our evening in here last weekend. Carlisle believed that I had the inner strength to be intimate with Bella and not harm her in any way. I had my doubts because being with Bella was intoxicating. I wasn't sure that in the heat of the passion that the strength of will would be enough. On the other hand, I couldn't have stopped myself from giving her pleasure when we were alone here last weekend. She drew me to her in a way I hadn't encountered before.

I couldn't wait to be with Bella again in that way, but tomorrow I planned on showing her our vampire version of baseball. I knew she wasn't into sports but I hoped that she could enjoy it with me.

I was playing around on the piano with Bella's song when I heard a faint knock on the door. When I called enter, Carlisle popped his head in.

_Can we talk a minute Edward?_

"Sure Carlisle, come on in."

"I hear Bella is coming out to the baseball game tomorrow. Alice says we're still on schedule as far as the storm is concerned. The clouds are starting to roll in now."

"Great! I'm looking forward to showing Bella how we play."

"I also wanted to let you know that while you were away today, Alice had a vision of visitors passing through the area tomorrow. They shouldn't be a problem but I wanted to let you know what was going on."

"Thanks. I hope they steer clear of the town and us. I don't want Bella in danger."

Carlisle wandered off and I resumed playing with the song. My thoughts turned to the possible visitors in Alice's visions. I couldn't help but become apprehensive that we had non-vegetarian vampires coming nearby. It wasn't often that others drifted through our area; there wasn't a lot of population to hide their activities for very long. Larger cities were much more feasible for those that fed on human blood. I'd gone that route for a while after what I guess you could call my teenage rebellious years when I thought I knew better than Carlisle and Esme and could feed on the evil side of humanity without it affecting me. I was wrong. I'd fed on those that were beyond redemption in my eyes: murderers, rapists and the like, but realized after a while that it was actually affecting who I was deep down. I was slowly becoming the monster that I despised. I came back to them with my tail tucked between my legs and very glad that they welcomed me back with open arms.

I pulled my thoughts away from the past and my mistakes In judgement and back to the piano and Bella's song. I really wanted to finish it tonight and play it for her after the game tomorrow.

**Jacob's POV**

I could sincerely say that I was happy that my transformation was completely done. I felt bad for Seth, being so young and having to go through the awful pain that occurred but was happy that he was going to be a full member of our pack.

Now that I was done and could start to shift into my wolf form at will, I was getting quite good at it. I could even shift on the fly which was quite surprising since no one else in the pack had been able to manage that yet. Not even Sam who'd been shifting the longest.

I noticed in the last few weeks that Leah had been acting pretty strangely and I hoped it wasn't because of my transformation and becoming a part of the pack. We'd always gotten along pretty well in the past and I didn't want that to change, not that we had been more than friends or anything like that. She was almost like a part of my family, her and Seth. I was hoping she would come to me to talk about it if it was serious but I knew from past experience, I couldn't push her. She'd talk to someone when she was ready to do so.

It was pretty great being with Bella for a while yesterday but I was definitely not okay with how the new guy Caleb had been watching her during dinner or the thoughts that had been going through his mind while he watched, not that Bella seemed interested and I heard through her mind that she had told Caleb she now had a boyfriend. I was surprised since she hadn't mentioned anything but Charlie seemed taken off guard about it as well which I found interesting. Who was this boyfriend that she hadn't even told her dad about him?

I'd also overheard how she and Leah had made plans for lunch, which to me was very odd. Leah didn't normally get along with any women other than members of her direct family, like her mom or her cousin Emily.

Getting back to my thoughts on Caleb; I wasn't sure if we should trust him. I knew from his behaviour since he'd arrived in the middle of the week that he was not happy with the changed his life had gone through recently or the transformations his body was going through. I told Sam that I felt that we would have to watch him but he laughed off my concerns. Caleb's changes hadn't progressed far enough for us to completely read his thoughts although when he thought of something in great concentration I could get a feeling of what he was thinking. Such was the case when he was thinking of Bella. I didn't like what I felt or heard from him and I didn't care what Sam thought, I was keeping an eye on that boy.

I decided to go for a run to clear my head figuring I may give Bella a call later and talk about this so called boyfriend no one knew about.

**Leah's POV**

.

Once the potlatch had ended I decided to grab Seth and head home. I wasn't feeling 100% and I knew that Seth wasn't either. I hadn't told anyone that I was going through similar symptoms as the boys until tonight when I was talking to Bella. I was just happy that she was willing to talk to me. I didn't normally feel comfortable with people outside of the reservation but I felt different with Bella. Maybe because she was part shape-shifter, I didn't know but it was great to feel that I had someone to talk with about what was happening. There hadn't been a female shape-shifter that I knew of except in our legends and here I was transforming into one. Jacob had finished. Seth was part way through his and I'd started changing after he'd started. This was scary shit.

I didn't want to be this. I didn't want to change into a wolf. I don't know if it was because I was a woman or not but I had paid special attention to anything in our legends related to women shape-shifters. Even as a child I dreamed of growing up, getting married and having children. How was this going to affect my chances of that? I knew those of our tribe that shape-shifted actually behaved like a wolf pack and once we met our soul mate that was it. We paired for life. We imprinted on our mate. I wasn't sure if there would be a mate in my future. Whether I would have the chance to actually have children with someone I fall in love with. I knew I had had feelings for Jake even though he was a year younger than me before our transformations started but I wasn't sure if those feelings would change no that I was changing.

I got up in the morning, checked on Seth who seemed to be doing better today and started to get ready for lunch with Bella. We decided to meet at the diner in town. I was hoping she wasn't going to mind how nosy I was going to be.

Bella was already there when I arrived.

" Hey Leah!" I heard my name from the back corner of the diner.

"Hey, Bella!" I sat down in the booth across from her.

While we ate lunch, I asked her how she was feeling, what changes she had gone through so far, how she felt about them and a whole bunch of other questions. I was surprised on how open she was being with me when she answered me. She said it was because she knew that I would be able to understand exactly what she was talking about. Surprisingly though, I was unable to read her thoughts. I wondered if the rest of the pack was aware of this. I knew that the part shape-shifters didn't immediately connect with the pack but they eventually did and Bella had been around enough of us already to cause a connection. It had already happened with Caleb. Thinking about him caused a shiver to go down my spine. I wasn't sure what it was about him but I felt the danger in the air whenever I was near him. His eyes burned right into you when he looked at you. I shivered and turned my attention back to Bella.

I was even able to talk to Bella about the imprinting and my fears. I was shocked that no one had told her about imprinting. She told me that it was a moot point for her because she already loved someone but she wouldn't give me details on who it was. I didn't push, it wasn't my business but I have to admit, I was a little curious. I'd heard in Jake's thoughts before Seth and I had left the Black's house that even Charlie hadn't been aware of Bella having a boyfriend before he overheard her tell Caleb. Jake said that Charlie was quite surprised and that they were going to discuss it when the got home. I wondered how that conversation went. Bella seemed in good spirits today so I guess it hadn't gone too bad.

We spent a good hour and a half talking while we lingered over coffee before Bella let me know that she had to run to meet up with her date. I really had to thank her for spending the time to talk to me and was glad that she suggested it. It was kind of nice to have another woman to talk to about this stuff.

I headed home and checked on Seth who seemed to be sleeping peacefully. I asked my mother how the morning had gone and I guess he'd had a bad spell while I was out. He was younger than the rest of us and the metamorphosis of his body was affecting him quite strongly. I'd always been protective of my little brother and I hated seeing him having to go through this.

I figured I'd stay home for the rest of the day and keep an eye on Seth so I settled down on the couch with a book.

**Bella's POV**

After lunch with Leah was finished, I headed home to change for my "date" with Edward. It'd been nice to talk to Leah but I wasn't too impressed that I'd had to find out from her about this imprinting thing. Apparently even the part shape-shifters were affected by it. I wondered if we only imprinted on others of our kind or if we could also imprint on others. It didn't matter to me anyway. I loved Edward and nothing was going to change that. Not if I had anything to say about it. I really needed to talk to Billy Black again and make sure there was nothing else he'd neglected to inform me about. I hated not being told things and was glad that I now had Leah to find out information from.

I got back home around 1:30 so I had a half an hour to wait for Edward to show up. I thought back to the potlatch at the Black house yesterday and meeting Caleb. There was something about him but I wasn't sure what it was. I was drawn to him in a way but he kind of scared me. He felt dangerous. Maybe it was my instincts kicking in but I knew I was going to have to be cautious around him.

I must have totally zoned out because the next thing I knew, there was a knock at the door and I knew it was Edward. I leapt off the couch and ran to let him in. I threw myself in his arms as soon as he took a step inside. He laughed as he caught me.

"Did you miss me or something?" he said giving me my favourite smile. I would never ever get enough of that smile.

"Yes!" I reached up to pull his mouth to mine and kissed him. He kissed me back for a minute then moved me away.

"We have to go, Bella. We don't want to miss out on the game."

"I'd rather stay here and kiss you." I muttered.

He responded with a chuckle and whispered "Later" in my ear. I blushed as I turned my face up to his with a smile and a "I'm holding you to that."

He laughed at my blush, kissed me one more time and then we headed out to the jeep.

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Baseball game next!

Approximately 2628 Words

October 14, 2009


	28. The Game, Chapter 27

Characters and Twilight belong to S. Meyers. Twists, turns and new characters belong to me.

This chapter is probably going to be a little boring cause I am keeping the major points of the original story in mine and everyone knows the baseball game part of it LOL. BUT in my story, James doesn't exactly follow S. Meyers' version of him and what he does will be a little different too. Who doesn't love a bad boy eh?

Still looking for a Beta if anyone is interested. :-)

Remember to review ! Loving the feedback!

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**The Game - Chapter Twenty Seven**

**Bella's POV, continued**

I wasn't sure where we were going but I knew it would be away from town. Edward pulled off the road after a while and across some rough terrain. I was glad that Emmett's jeep had off road harnesses. I was pretty sure I'd have been tossed out knowing my luck if I hadn't been wearing one.

"How are the others getting there?"

Edward looked at me funny for a moment and then laughed. "They ran. They're already there. We're the slowpokes."

I blushed. Duh. "Right. Vampire speed." Sometimes the obvious just went right over my head.

Edward just laughed again. "I love that blush of yours, Bella." He looked at me, reached over and caressed my cheek as he said it.

"Hey, eyes on the road or, non road as the case may be, Mister! I don't want us running into a tree!"

"Bella, I'd never let anything happen to you." He suddenly went very serious on me, his eyes riveted to mine. I smiled at him, reaching up to caress the hand that was still against my face. His thumb moved against my cheek sending tingling sensations along my skin. I was tempted to ask him if we could just skip the game and go back to his music room.

I knew he would always want to protect me but he also had to realize that I wasn't just any other human. I could protect myself. I felt completely safe with him at my side but I also wanted him to realize that I would cover his back as well. I wanted us to be a team.

We got to the field and saw that everyone had beat us there. Jasper was doing tricks with the bat he held, Alice was pitching to the catcher, Esme. Emmett was running around the bases and Carlisle was just waiting patiently for us to arrive. Esme greeted me happily when we walked up to the "baseball diamond" and gave me a hug. She informed me that I'd be the umpire since I'd been around some of the games that Phil had played in and sort of knew about the game.

"Watch out for these guys, they cheat." She remarked to me with a smile at her family. They all protested vehemently that they didn't but she just smiled at them all.

They all got into position with Alice pitching, Emmett and Edward in the outfield, Esme catching and Rose, Jasper and Carlisle batting. I wondered briefly why there was no one stationed near the bases but thought better than to ask and look completely stupid. They stopped like they were waiting for something and after a few moments; I could hear thunder in the distance. They all got big ass grins on their faces and a few more minutes later, Alice announced that it was time to start.

She threw the pitch for Jasper and he hit it pretty hard. I jumped at the sound; it vibrated through the air like a crack of thunder. I knew Edward had seen my reaction and was laughing at me from across the field. I childishly stuck my tongue out at him which just made him laugh even more.

We'd been playing, or rather they had, for about an hour and a half when Alice suddenly froze and Edward turned to her in the blink of an eye, his eye wide with alarm.

"We have company," she informed everyone else. Apparently, it was very unwanted company from the looks on everyone's faces. "And they're close by."

Edward looked the most alarmed by the news and was instantly by my side with his arm around my waist, tugging me close to his lean body. Carlisle said something to him that I couldn't hear which caused Edward to shake his head.

Everyone seemed to be frozen, waiting for the strangers to make an appearance. I turned my face up to Edward and tried to ask him who was coming but he just shook his head and shushed me.

I waited quietly after that with the rest of my new family. I might as well just admit that I was never going to leave Edward. He was a part of me like an arm or a leg and no one was going to come between us. Suddenly, I felt Edward stiffen and I looked up to see him looking across the field to the woods. I followed his line of sight and spotted 3 people walking towards us in the distance.

As they approached our location, I saw the difference of their eyes from those of the Cullen family. While the Edward and his family had eye colour that ranged from golden brown when they were well fed to pitch black when they were extremely hungry, these new vampires' eyes were blood red. I got a little nauseous looking at them. There were two men and one woman. The first man had tawny hair, was muscular and about the same height as Edward, the other man had dark hair and appeared to be the spokesman for the group, and the female had vivid red hair and was quite beautiful. I saw her looking at Edward with an admiring gaze and I couldn't keep myself from glaring at her. I felt Edward squeeze my waist letting me know that he was right there with me. I nuzzled into his chest as I shivered a little while the tawny haired one looked at me intensely. It almost felt like how Caleb had been looking at me the night of the potlatch; it made me extremely uncomfortable and I think this new vampire knew it. His mouth turned up in a slick smirk as his eyes met mine, like he was aware of how he was making me feel.

As they approached us, I could see them all looking closely at all the Cullen's.

"We heard your game going on from a distance away and was wondering if you could you use more players? It's been a long time since we've played." the dark one asked.

Carlisle answered him, "We were actually just packing up for the day. But thanks for the offer."

"Oh, that's too bad. That's our misfortune." He stated as he looked us all over, his eyes stopping on me for a few moments before moving on to Edward. A quizzical look came over his face and he turned back to Carlisle.

"Are you the family of vegetarians we've been hearing about?" he asked after looking carefully at everyone's eyes and noticing the colour difference to his own.

Carlisle turned to answer but I could see that he was also keeping an eye on the other two. "Yes, we're known as vegetarians amongst our kind."

"I'd love to talk to you about it sometime." He paused a moment, "Oh, my manners. My name is Laurent, this is James and Victoria."

"I'm Carlisle and this is my family, Esme, Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, Jasper, Edward and Bella."

While Carlisle and Laurent had been talking, James had kept watching me with his piercing red eyes; occasionally he would cock his head and sniff the air like he was trying to figure out something. The longer "James" stared at me, the tenser Edward's body got. I moved my hand up underneath the back of his shirt so we were touching skin to skin. The heat from my hand against his coldness seemed to soothe him a little but he still kept his eyes on the other vampire.

I shivered and leaned in closer to Edward, his arm pulling me closer against his side. Something was definitely up with that vampire and his interest in me. I glanced over to the woman, Victoria, and saw that she was watching James closely. She didn't appear very happy with his intense interest in me.

Edward stiffened against me again and I could here a low growl in his chest as his eyes narrowed at James. James smirked back at him and shifted to an aggressive stance. I tightened my one hand into Edward's shirt and pulled slightly while I caressed his back with the other. I didn't want him to start an all out brawl with these three vampires, or at the least James and Victoria. I wasn't too sure where Laurent fit into their little group.

As James continued to stare aggressively at both me and Edward, I felt the heat in my body start to rise. A really strange feeling started in my body and it was scaring me. I'd never talked to Jake or Leah or even Billy about what exactly happened in your body in the transformation. I'd begun to think that I wasn't going to change all the way so why scare myself with details. Now I wish I had.

I pulled harder on Edward's shirt to try and get his attention but he seemed locked in a battle of wills with James. Carlisle was the closest one to us so I ducked my head behind Edward's back and whispered to him. Although he gave no outwardly obvious indication that he had heard me, I saw his eyes flicker and I knew that he had.

"Well, we really have to get going Laurent. We have plans that we're going to be late for if we don't leave soon."

Laurent nodded and apologized for keeping everyone. He turned to James and waited. Eventually, James gave up his antagonizing stance towards Edward and me and turned towards Laurent with a nod. He flung his arm over Victoria's shoulders as she came to his side and nodded to Laurent again. I watched them carefully and through their body language it was evident that although Laurent was the one that spoke with us, James was really the more dominant vampire of the three. As they turned to walk away, James turned back to look at me; a look that made me shiver.

Everyone stood in place as we watched the others disappear into the woods across the field. Once they were completely out of sight, Carlisle spun around to me.

"Are you okay, Bella? What's going on?"

Edward seemed to finally come back to awareness of his surroundings and looked down at me in concern.

"What? What's wrong with Bella? I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention, I .. "

"It's okay Edward. I just didn't feel right while those vampires were right here. I'm feeling a little better now but it scared me. I tried to get your attention but you seemed like you weren't with us for a few minutes."

"I'm so sorry Bella. I couldn't focus for a few minutes. That vampire James, his thoughts are so dark." He turned to Carlisle. "He's a tracker and he was captivated by Bella. I don't like it. He knows that there's something different about her, that she isn't all human. He's not sure what it is but he wants to find out. I don't think we've seen the last of those three."

I shivered as he put into words what I'd been thinking for the last few minutes since we'd watched them leave and I felt his arm tighten around me even more.

"Bella, you'll have to make sure the Quileute know about those three. They may already but best to make sure." Carlisle looked directly at me as he said this. I nodded my head and told him I'd make sure they knew right away.

We left the field and went back to the Cullen's house. Charlie wasn't expecting me home for a while and it made me feel a little safer to be with Edward and the rest of the family right now. I knew by the way that James had looked at me that there was more to his interest than just curiosity about what I was and I knew that Edward knew the full extent of that interest from hearing James' thoughts in the field. Since we'd arrived at the house, he hadn't let me away from his side let alone out of his sight.

We were up in the music room with Alice and Jasper when Edward turned to me with a very serious look on his face. "Bella, I'm not really comfortable letting you out of my sight while those three vampires are near Forks. Do you think your Dad would let you stay here with Alice for a few days or even out at La Push with Leah if he isn't okay with you staying here?"

I wasn't sure if I liked the idea of staying out at La Push. It would mean that I wouldn't be spending that time with Edward since the treaty clearly stated that the Cullens were not allowed on reservation. I also knew that Charlie wouldn't be very comfortable with me staying in the same house as Edward, even with Esme and Carlisle right here.

I phoned Billy to let him know about James, Laurent and Victoria so he could inform the tribe and was glad that I'd read up on all the Quileute legends when I first found out I was changing. I knew he'd want to know how I was so informed about vampires. He must already been aware that the Cullen's were back in the area but I wasn't sure how much of that information that he had shared with the rest or if he knew that I was associating myself with them. Jake and he were in town more often than the rest so would know more of what went on there.

I knew it was probably going to be difficult for the other shape-shifters to deal with my relationship with Edward and the rest of the Cullens but I was not going to get into that with Billy. He was not my father and had no say in my private life but it wasn't a conversation that I was looking forward to having.

Another reason I wasn't too keen on spending time on the reservation was because of Caleb. There was something about how he looked at me at the potlatch that put me on my guard. I hadn't yet told Edward about him and I wasn't sure if it was a good idea now that we had to deal with James and the other two. On the other hand, Caleb was going to be at the school tomorrow and if he looked at me like he did at the potlatch, Edward might take his head off. How did my life get so damn complicated?

What the hell was it lately with all these guys lately? First there was Mike, then Caleb and now James. Was I giving off some kind of fuck me scent or what? If this kept happening, there was going to be some serious problems with Edward. I knew he loved me and I knew that with our kind of love, there was going to be a lot of possessiveness. I knew how I felt thinking of anyone that he'd been with before we met and how the girls at school looked at him now, so I could pretty much figure out how he was going to feel.

I didn't bother to phone Leah yet. I decided to talk to Charlie first and see how he felt about either plan. He knew enough about what was going on to know that vampires did exist so I wasn't exactly going to shock him with the news that there were some in the area.

I decided against telling Charlie that the Cullens were also vampires right away figuring that it just might put a kink in my relationship with Edward. Sometimes with Charlie, the less he knew the better we both liked it.

I stayed for dinner at the Cullen house and we all watched a movie afterwards in the family room. I was conscious of how they were all on their guard for any strange noises even though Alice hadn't seen anything happening right away. I guess that meant that James was going to bide his time before maybe coming after me. I just wish Alice could see anything in the future to indicate exactly what he was planning but wishes weren't going to help.

Edward drove me home and came into the house with me. A note on the board from Charlie indicated he was at the office again and didn't know when he would be home. Edward was definitely not comfortable leaving me alone so he decided to stay until Charlie showed up. He told me that until we decided where I was going to stay, one of them would stand guard around the house during the night. I shivered thinking that James could very well come to the house and since I wasn't a fully transformed shape-shifter, there wasn't a lot that I could do about it.

Edward must have felt my distress because he suddenly had me back in his arms and held tight, whispering in my ear that he would never let anything happen to me. I was his life now. It still amazed me the depth of the feelings we had formed for each other in such a short period of time.

I hugged Edward back still wishing we had had some alone time while we'd been at his house. There was no way to guarantee how long Charlie would be gone but I really needed to be close to him right now.

I asked him to come up to my room and he smiled his wonderfully crooked smile at me that always made my knees weak. I knew we probably wouldn't have long together tonight but anything was better than nothing.

We sat on the couch in my room for a while listening to my docked IPod and I just cuddled up close to him. His hard marble-like body was actually quite comforting despite the coldness radiating from his skin. He sat perfectly still, like a statue. I didn't want to move but knowing that I couldn't put off telling him about Caleb much longer, I sighed and sat up away from him. He turned towards me, puzzled that I'd moved away and I gave him a slight smile.

"Edward. I need to tell you something." I shakily sighed. I wasn't sure how he was going to react.

"Bella, you can tell me anything. You know that. I love you."

He said those words so effortlessly but I guess after about 100 years of being alone, you probably knew what you felt when you felt it.

I took a deep breath. "When Dad and I went to Jake and Billy's for dinner the other night, it wasn't just the four of us there. It'd turned into a potlatch so pretty much all the shape-shifters were there. Billy and Jake have someone staying with them now, another part shape-shifter like me. His name is Caleb and he'll be going to Forks High with us."

"Why is he going to the Fork' school if he's staying on La Push?"

"He doesn't have status so he can't go to the La Push School. His parents have sent him here to learn about being a shape-shifter from the pack."

"Ah. Okay. Seems reasonable. Is there some sort of problem with that or something?"

"Well. Uhm. You see. He seemed to take a bit of an interest in me and I didn't want you to be surprised if we run into him at school tomorrow."

Edward's eye narrowed as he watched my face flush a faint red. I was completely uncomfortable being the centre of attention no matter what and to have these guys that I don't know staring at me was the most painful of feelings. He didn't say anything for a few minutes, obviously taking in what I just told him. He took my hands in his and I couldn't help but admire his long slender fingers and remembering what they were capable of doing to me. I felt heat settle in my groin and spread through my body as I remembered our moments in his music room. My face flushed even more for a different reason.

He watched me for a few minutes and smiled. I was sure that he knew what I was thinking about. He put his fingers under my chin and gently raised my head so my eyes would meet his. He smiled another crooked smile and I couldn't help but return it.

"Bella. It's fine. I can handle others looking at you, as long as they don't TOUCH you. I find that I am not only feeling protective of you, I feel very possessive of you as well."

I looked into his honey golden eyes and chuckled. His brow creased in curiosity as I just looked at him. "I've been feeling that way myself lately, Edward."

He pulled me back against his chest and I snuggled into his shoulder. I knew he'd have to leave to go home as soon as Charlie was here but for now, I could just hold on to him and pretend that some of the past two days hadn't happened.

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Feel free to Twitter me at mahika or .com/mahika

3625 words.

Updated Oct 23, 2009


	29. A Possible Rival, Chapter 28

Characters and Twilight belong to S. Meyers. Twists, turns and new characters belong to me.

**So sorry for the long time it took to update. I swear, my muse keeps running off and getting drunk! I finally sobered him up . LOL **

**Life and School gets a little more complicated .**

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**A Possible Rival - Chapter Twenty Eight**

**Edward's POV**

I loved Bella, that went without saying but I wasn't sure where the aggressive feelings of possessiveness were coming from. It was true that I had never been in love before in all my decades of existence as a vampire but even the times I'd been involved with a woman hadn't created this level of fierceness in me. The thought of someone putting their hands on Bella took my mind into a whole other level of consciousness and not a very pleasant one. I had spent all these years forcing down my vampiric tendencies of violence towards others and followed Carlisle's "vegetarian" way of life. Now I find myself having to exert excessive control over my basic instincts of doing bodily harm to another being.

When Bella had explained about this part shape-shifter Caleb, I tried to alleviate her feelings of apprehension about telling me. To know that this male was looking at her in a way I deemed inappropriate was enough to make me want to fucking tear out his throat. Whoa. This was getting slightly out of control.

I left her house as soon as Charlie arrived home and headed home to meet with Carlisle. Emmett and Rose were hanging out in town to keep an eye out for James and the other two vampires. I just hoped that James had thought twice about hanging around Forks and left the area but I was doubtful that he was that smart or we could be that lucky.

Carlisle and I talked about what was to be done about James and I told him what Bella had said about this Caleb that would be attending school with us starting tomorrow. He told me to try to look at it from the kid's point of view. Suddenly thrust into a world he didn't know existed. Maybe he was just trying to grasp onto someone that he knew was like him. With a smirk, I said I'd try but I couldn't guarantee anything. He smiled and shook his head at me, knowing that I would.

I spent the night worrying about Bella and the events of the weekend, hoping that I was going to be able to keep her safe from everyone that had popped up in her life.

In the morning, I sent Bella a text to say I'd be picking her up for school. She replied that she was already dressed and ready to go. We arrived at the school at the same time as everyone else and headed into our respective classes. We had made an agreement that someone would walk Bella to each class just to be on the safe side.

The day seemed to go uneventfully until we all met for lunch. I gathered Bella from class and we walked together through the halls. I could feel eyes on us as we walked but I couldn't place where they were coming from and amongst the thoughts I could hear all throughout the morning, there were ones centred on Bella.

They had started out sporadically but as the morning progressed, they became more and more insistent in my mind. They were thoughts that I hadn't heard before amongst. It was a different voice in the sea of voices that constantly went through my mind. I'd become adept over the years to siphon out different voices in my head and I finally pinpointed this one when we reached the table where the rest were already seated at.

It was the guy sitting in the back corner staring at Bella and I definitely didn't like it. Even though she had warned me about this guy, I still wasn't prepared for the intensity of his thoughts. I took a deep breath, one of course that I didn't actually require, to try and quell the emotions of anger that were trying to rise up inside of me while my arms involuntarily pulled her even closer to my body. I looked down at Bella and noticed that she had seen him as well. Her body stiffened in my arms and I wondered if she was reacting to my tension or something she sensed from him.

**Bella's POV**

I couldn't fucking believe it. I actually wasn't sure what part shocked the hell out of me. The fact that I could constantly feel Caleb's eyes on me all day or the fact that I could hear his fucking thoughts. What. The. Fuck. The worst part? I knew that Edward could hear them too. Okay, that was almost the worst part. I could fucking here them! Oh. My. Gods. What was going on now? I couldn't hear anyone else's. Just his.

I was getting really pissed off hearing what was going through his head too. I wasn't sure how much longer Edward could keep his cool. He knew I could take care of myself but even his iron will couldn't last against the onslaught of the baser thoughts running through Caleb's mind every time he laid his eyes on me.

For. Fucks. Sake. Yet another thing that I had to go to La Push and ask Billy about. Why I wasn't told this little gem of information. I was surprised that Leah hadn't mentioned something at lunch. After all she told me about the imprinting. I was really getting sick and tired of feeling left out of the loop. Bonus time! I get to hear things that I never ever want to hear from any other guy but Edward and I'm sure Edward had to listen to them too. Like I needed a jealous vampire boyfriend on top of all the other crap I was dealing with now. Caleb. James. Changing. Apparently Murphy wasn't finished fucking with my life yet. What god did I piss off and how could I make amends?

I glared at Caleb but he didn't look away. He actually just smirked at me, like he could read my thoughts as well. Fuck! What did I just think? Did I just think of Edward as a vampire. Fuck! This was not good.

I turned to Edward and urgently grabbed his hand. He looked startled when I started to drag him out of the room.

"Edward, we need to talk. Now!"

I pulled him out to the parking lot to his car and urged him to get in. I jumped in the passenger side and grabbed his hands. I noticed mine were actually shaking.

"Caleb's in the schoo!" I almost shouted at him.

"Yes Bella, I assumed the guy having the rather base thoughts about you was him. I have to say that I don't appreciate hearing it though." I could tell from the tone of Edward's voice that he was enforcing a tight control on his possessiveness of me. I was pretty sure that if we'd stayed in the school much longer, Caleb would have had Edward's hands wrapped around his throat. Although at this moment, I kind of wanted to do the same thing to the jerk.

"Uhm. Yeah. Right. Well, we have a bigger problem than that Edward. I just found out something in there that no one had bothered to inform me about. It was nice that Leah had to be the one to tell me about the stupid imprinting thing but didn't say anything to me about this ability to read other shape-shifter's minds."

"What? Imprinting. What the hell is that? And what do you mean you can read other's minds?"

"I'll explain imprinting later, it's not important. I already have you. I don't know what this is Edward. I suddenly could read every thought that went through Caleb's mind back there in the cafeteria. It wasn't the most pleasant thing to suddenly discover." I shuddered. "There must be some sort of Pack mind thing going on. It's the only thing I can think of. But whatever it is, it's going to be somewhat of a problem. They are going to find out about you!"

Edward laughed. Wait a minute! He LAUGHED! What the fuck? I'm at the point of having a nervous breakdown and he is laughing at me?

"Bella, it's fine. The Quileute already know we're back in the area. The treaty that was arranged the last time we were in this area is still in force. As long as we don't hurt humans, hunt on the Quileute land or change a human, we leave each other alone. It's okay."

"But Edward, the elders may know that you'e back but what about the rest of them? Are they going to keep their mouths shut about it? Can we trust them? I mean, there is a guy in our school right now that can probably read my mind and I don't have a lot of self control over my thoughts when it comes to you." I could feel myself blush over that admission. "What if I think something wrong? And you may have a treaty with them but that doesn't mean that they're going to be okay with me being with you. After all, shape-shifters and vampires are supposed to be enemies"

"We'll deal with it if it comes up. The most important thing is what do you want to tell your father? He already knows about half the story regarding what shape-shifters are but does he know that vampires actually exist? Do you want to tell him or what?"

I sat there staring at him for a few minutes. Fuck! How could my life get more complicated than it already was? I had a part shape-shifter lusting after me, a vampire tracker apparently either wanting my body or my blood and an asshole high school human after me as well. All I really wanted to do at this moment is go somewhere with Edward and pretend the rest of it was just a bad nightmare.

**Caleb's POV**

Man that girl Bella is so fucking hot! I'd had this urge to grab her and take her somewhere, anywhere, away from everyone else. I'd never had this overwhelming attraction to any girl in my life. I'd had girlfriends back at home but there was never this full on lust before. Was it because she was like me? I couldn't seem to control my thoughts as they went into overdrive and imagined all the things I wanted to do to her.

I'd caught glimpses of her in the halls of the school all morning but the moment that she and the tall pale guy walked in, the lust became overpowering. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair, trying to adjust myself to a less painful position. My cock was straining against my jeans and it didn't appear to be willing to ease up any time soon.

There was something else beside that too; something more primitive. I didn't like that she was so close to the guy she walked in with. I didn't like how she looked at him or how he looked at her. I also felt something when I looked at him, like I wanted to kill him for some reason. It was like every instinct I had told me that the picture in front of me was wrong; that they shouldn't be together.

I looked at the guy and saw he was staring directly at me, with rage in his eyes. I didn't know what his problem was and I didn't really care. I looked at Bella and could see she was pissed about something. She looked over at me briefly and it was like she knew what I was thinking. I couldn't help it and I sort of smirked at her. That seemed to piss her more off and the next thing I knew, she grabbed his hand and hauled him out of the room. My instincts were screaming at me to follow them out but I held myself back. This shit was getting scary.

The girl sitting across from me looked over to see what I was watching. "Oh, do you know Bella and Edward?"

I turned to look at her and noticed that she was sort of pretty, not like Bella but pretty nonetheless. She had deep red hair, porcelain skin and her eyes were the palest blue I'd ever seen. I looked her over and had to admit, I'd do her in a heartbeat. Maybe I could relieve a little tension, I snickered to myself.

"I met Bella the other day at the place I'm staying," I told her. "But I don't know this Edward."

"Edward's Bella's boyfriend. That's his family over at that table in the back corner."

Edward must be the boyfriend she mentioned at the potlatch the other day. I did wonder why he hadn't come with her. I turned my head and looked in the direction she indicated and saw 2 couples sitting at the table. I had this overwhelming urge to go over there and kill them all. Where the hell was this coming from?

"My name is Fae." I heard her say which distracted me from Bella for the moment. I noticed this time how light and musical her voice was. My body reacted to it. Warmth seeped through me at the lilting tones and pooled in my already engorged member. What the hell was going on with me? Why was I so freaking horny that the sound of a girl's voice could make me so hard that I was sure I would burst if so much as she looked at me.

"I'm Caleb."

She looked at me from beneath her ridiculously long lashes and smiled. "It's nice to meet you Caleb."

I waited until the majority of the students had left for their next class before I moved away from the table and Fae, trying to keep my raging hard on undetected by her and the rest of them. I really hoped that this wasn't going to be a daily occurrence at school. I don't think I'll be able to stay sane if it does.

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**Oh no.. horny wolves!**

Feel free to Twitter me at mahika or .com/mahika

2379 words.

Updated Oct 31, 2009


	30. Satisfaction, Chapter 29

Characters and Twilight belong to S. Meyers. Twists, turns and new characters belong to me.

**Greetings Readers. Thanks for your patience! RL got in the way of this chapter but I hope it was worth the wait! Let me know in a review. **

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**Satisfaction - Chapter 29**

**Bella's POV**

I was utterly exhausted and completely pissed off by the end of the day. I'd discovered, thanking the gods here, that apparently I couldn't "hear" everyone's thoughts, only those of the Quileute blood. At least I figured so since I could only hear Caleb's thoughts for the rest of the day. I was really empathising with Edward here. I couldn't imagine hearing everyone's thoughts in my head. But like hearing Caleb's thoughts wasn't bad enough! Mike kept up his usual harassment throughout the afternoon.

Classes finally over, I headed out to the car to meet up with Edward and everyone else. I took one look at his face and was surprised he stuck it out until the end of the day. If hearing what Caleb was thinking about me pissed me off, I could just imagine what it was doing to Edward. I walked straight up to him and put my arms around his waist, snuggling against his cool chest for some relief from the fever like state of my body. He hesitated only for a moment before put his arms around me and holding me close to him, nuzzling his nose into my hair. It felt so good. I could feel his body relax slightly as we stood there and just held each other.

I really didn't want to think about what Caleb's sexually based thoughts had done to him all day. I knew that when I saw Lauren and the other bitches in the school looking at Edward like they wanted to eat him, I wanted to just fucking bash their faces in. It was beyond imagination what I would do if I could actually hear their thoughts about what they wanted to do to or with him. Half the time I wanted to walk up to them and scream in their faces, "Back the fuck off bitches! He's mine!"

I was pretty sure that this wasn't completely normal or human-like to feel this way. Well, except I'm not exactly normal and not completely "human". I had started to think about my feelings this afternoon, figuring if I thought about it while Edward was in a class with Alice and Jasper, I might be able to stay somewhat rational in my thought process. I knew that when I'd first seen him, he was it for me. I'd never ever felt that attraction and wanting before in my life with any other guy. Leah had mentioned imprinting to me at lunch the other day and I was starting to think that could be what had happened to Edward and I. Could it be? But wasn't imprinting a Quileute thing? Could we imprint cross species as the case may be or was it because we basically all began as human that it would be possible. I really needed to talk to someone about this but how do I ask if it's possible to imprint on a vampire when you're a shape-shifter? Who would I ask without starting a war between the two?

As we stood there in our own thoughts, a different type of tension started to develop between us. I felt his hands start to caress my back and warmth course throughout my body. I felt a sense of loss when he moved me away from him as the rest of the family showed up at the car. Jasper and Alice climbed into the back seat and Emmett and Rose headed to his jeep and we all headed back to the Cullen house. I wasn't sure what brought it out in me but the minute Edward had parked the car and we got out, I grabbed his hand and urged him up to his bedroom. Alice and Jasper watched us go with huge smiles on our faces. I didn't give a shit what Edward thought about us having sex, I wanted him now. I'd just spent the day being bombarded by Caleb's sexual fantasies and I was so turned on by Edward that I could barely stay in my skin.

Edward looked at me and I could see the lust in his eyes but I wasn't sure if he would put up a fight against the plans I had for him this afternoon or not. I knew he was terrified of losing control and hurting me. I knew he wouldn't. I only hoped that I could convince him. This is the first chance we'd had to be alone in a while and as far as I was concerned, it was happening now come hell or high water. I was not taking no for an answer.

We reached his bedroom and I quickly dragged him through the door, shut it and locked it. No one was going to interrupt us today.

"In a hurry or something Bella?" he asked as I shoved him down on the couch. I knew he would revolt if I tried to get him on the bed straight away. I crawled up on his lap, straddling him and kissed him. Hard. He kissed me back but as I got more aggressive, he started to push me away. I let him move me only so far and looked into his golden eyes.

"Edward. We are doing this." It was a simple stated fact. "I want you. I want you now."

Edward looked startled for a moment. "Bella, we can't. You could get hurt. I couldn't live with myself if I did something to hurt you."

I rocked my hips into his and felt his engorged cock against me. I moaned deeply and felt my core instantly react to the feeling. I was sopping wet already and I ground myself harder against him, needing the friction. I grabbed his face between my hands. "Yes Edward. We can. We will."

I felt him grab my hips and I bent towards him to kiss his beautiful full red lips. I licked his bottom lip gently and delved my tongue inside as his mouth opened to mine. I'd never been this aggressive with a guy before but I wanted Edward. I needed him. He was like the air I breathed. The other half of my soul.

**Edward's POV**

I knew something was up with Bella the moment she approached me at the car. She was rarely if ever the aggressive one in this relationship, short though it had been so far. I had always been the one to initiate any intimacy between us and also the one to put on the brakes when I felt we had gone far enough without me losing control.

Today, Bella had a purpose behind her. She literally dragged me up to my room once we arrived at the house and apparently was not going to take no for an answer. After listening to the thoughts of Caleb, Mike and all the other guys in the school today when it came to Bella, I had this uncontrollable urge to claim her as mine and make sure any other male in the area knew it.

She pushed me down on the couch and straddled my lap. I knew she could feel my hard cock and I almost lost it when she ground herself against me. I moaned as she started to kiss me. I felt her tongue along my lower lip and my mouth automatically opened to let her in. Our tongues danced as we tasted deeply of each other. I will never get tired of her taste. Strawberries had become my favourite thing in the whole world since meeting her.

I moved my hands to her hips to try and hold her still. I knew if she kept grinding herself against me, I wasn't going to even have a chance to test my control. It would have been over before it even began.

I felt her hands delve beneath my t-shirt and graze my chest. She moaned as she trailed her lips down my jaw line to my throat. I gripped the back of her head and moaned as my head naturally fell back to give her complete access to me. Before I lost the ability to put two words together, I had an idea that might make it safer for Bella if she was determined to go through with this. I somehow thought that I wouldn't have a hope in hell of discouraging her without really pissing her off.

"Bella."

"Hmmm ?"

"I have an idea."

"Oh?" she murmured as she started licking my nipples. My body jerked and arched at the feeling that shot through it. Fuck she was amazing!

"My god Bella! That tongue should be registered as a dangerous weapon!"

I could feel her snicker against my skin.

"Bella, to make sure that I don't hurt you, you're going to have to do a lot of the work this time. I'm going to keep my hands off of you."

Bella leaned back and looked down at me a beautiful smile on her face. "That works for me!"

With that, she started to kiss me again. I moved my hands to the back of the couch and gripped it to keep myself from grabbing Bella. As we kissed, I felt her push my t-shirt up my body. I moved my arms up so she could remove it completely and put them back in the same position. She removed her own shirt and moved her body closer to mine. I moaned at the feeling of her breasts against me. Her hands went into my hair and pulled gently as she continued our kiss. I groaned. I never thought that having my hair pulled could be so erotic.

She kept rotating her hips and causing friction between our lower bodies. I didn't think my cock could get any harder without bursting.

"Bella. Slow down, Baby. I'm not going to last much longer if you keep that up."

"I'm not going to either." She muttered and suddenly stood up and grabbed my hands. I got to my feet, a little puzzled at her actions. She pulled me over to the bed and shoved me down on it. I was beginning to really like this aggressive side to her personality, I thought to myself.

Her hands went to the buttons on my jeans and the next thing I knew, my jeans were gone. She gasped as she realized I'd gone commando today. I looked at her face and smirked at her when her eyes met mine. I heard a sound from her throat that sounded an awfully like a growl. As I laid there and watched, she removed her own jeans, smiling wickedly at me. She also had gone commando and my dick actually twitched at the sight of her. My memories from our time in the music room were nothing compared to seeing her today.

She was mesmerizing and I was amazed that I could actually call her mine.

**Bella's POV**

I couldn't believe that I was doing this. I'd never been the aggressor in a sexual situation before and I found that I really liked it. The fact that Edward was going to let me have control of our lovemaking tonight got me so hot I was dripping wet. Once I got him to the bed and both of us naked, I wasn't sure what to do but decided to trust my instincts. I took the time to appreciate the sight before me. His body was magnificent; lean and muscular in an understated way. His cock stood large and proud like it was waiting just for me. I'd seen it react to me when I removed my clothes and couldn't resist smiling. Edward was so much in control most of the time; it was nice to see the affect I actually had on him.

I slowly crawled up onto the bed and over his cool body. The feel of him against my heated flesh caused me to shiver in a really good way. As I approached, he moved up further on the bed and watched me. He kept his hands away from me but I wished he could trust in himself and realize that he wouldn't hurt me. I'd love to feel his hands on me while we made love. I only hoped that with time, he could begin to believe in himself.

Once I was laying completely over him, I kissed him deeply and felt him kiss me back. Our tongues did a mating dance older than time and I felt my body adapt around his. I straddled him and felt his cock graze my clit as I moved back and forth over him. We both groaned into each others mouths and I felt him gently nip and my lower lip. I ground my hips into his for a couple of minutes until I couldn't take anymore. I grazed my hand down his body to grasp his cock firmly and positioned it at my folds, slowly lowering myself onto him. His body arched at the feeling and I groaned as he filled me completely.

"Bella! You're so wet for me!"

I kissed him again, then raised my upper body up and started to raise and lower myself over him. I couldn't believe how good he felt inside of me. The coolness of his skin against the warmth of mine was so sensual I almost came within seconds. I willed myself to calm down and enjoy this. As I moved my hips, I felt him doing the same.

"Oh Edward!"

"Bella! You feel too good! I'm not going to last!"

He rotated his hips and ground them up into mine, forcing his member even deeper into my body. My body arched at the feeling and I screamed my release and I heard Edward cry out as he came. My body clenched, milking him until he stopped twitching inside of me. I fell on top of his chest and felt his hands come around to caress my back and hair. I smiled to myself.

I could feel myself almost purring at his touch. I would never get over the feeling of his touch. The electricity between us was amazing.

Next time I promised myself that we would take it more slowly. Tonight had been the accumulation of a lot of sexual tension since the time we spent in the music room and a day full of sexual fantasies invading our minds.

"I love you" I heard him whisper in my ear.

"I love you too." I whispered back. I sighed and nuzzled his throat, feeling totally at peace and loved by this amazing creature I could call my own. I could feel myself drifting off to sleep, safe in the arms of my lover.

**Edward's POV**

I wasn't sure if Bella was going to go through with being the aggressor in our love making tonight but she didn't disappoint me. I kept my hands gripping the headboard as she had her way with me. She was amazing. I knew it wouldn't last very long. We were both well past the point of going slowly from all the thoughts wed been pounded with all day and I didn't care at this point. She was in charge of this and obviously she couldn't wait either. It was the most erotic thing I'd seen as she grabbed my cock and lowered herself onto me. I almost came in that instant but by sheer will, I held off. She moved over me and I could feel by her body's reaction that she was ready to come any moment. Surprisingly she held herself off and moved up and down on my cock. The feel of her wet folds sent sensations I'd never felt flow throughout my body. I started to move my hips with the rhythm she had started and I felt myself start to twitch inside of her. Her body arched over me and I pushed deep inside as her body clenched around my cock. We both cried out our release and she slumped against my chest. I pulled my hands away from the headboard and moved them to caress her hair and back. I softly whispered in her ear that I loved her, sighing softly as she nuzzled into my neck. I knew when she had fallen asleep and I held her closely, content with my world at the moment. I reached down and covered us with the comforter on the bed and watched her sleep until I had to wake her to go home. I wasn't sure if I could let her go.

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2817 words.

Updated Nov 4, 2009


	31. Imprinting, Chapter 30

Characters and Twilight belong to S. Meyers. Twists, turns and new characters belong to me.

**So sorry for the long time it took to update. Month end billing at work totally interrupts my writing LOL **

**Thank you to those that have started reading the story. Don't forget to send a review and let me know how you think the story is going. Any type of feedback is greatly appreciated!**

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**Imprinting - Chapter Thirty**

**Bella's POV **

I faintly heard a voice calling my name. I didn't want to wake up. My dreams had been full of Edward and I wanted to stay in that dream! I blinked open my eyes to see the face I was dreaming of slowly come into focus, smiling that crooked smile I just adored.

He kissed me gently, "You have to wake up Bella. It's time for you to get home before Charlie sends out the SAR dogs on you."

"But I don't wanna!" I knew I was whining but I really didn't want to leave the comfort of Edward's bed now that I had gotten into it. I grabbed the comforter and slung it up over my head and held it in a death grip.

"You have to Bella." He said chuckling at my antics as he gently pried the comforter from my hands. It was difficult since he was lying against me on the bed but he managed to do it.

"Are you staying with me tonight?" I asked, not knowing if he would or not considering our activities from the past few hours.

"I will if you want me to."

I leaned away from him and looked at his face for a second not quite sure where this hesitancy on his part was coming from. For Fuck's sake we just had mind blowing sex this afternoon and he wasn't sure if I wanted him to stay with me?

"Of course I want you to Edward! Why would you think I wouldn't? Oh never mind. Let me quickly have a shower and we'll go. It certainly wouldn't be a good idea to show up at home smelling like sweat and sex." I blushed as I saw his reaction at my words. His eyes blazed with lust and I could feel his cock against my thigh get hard at the images that my words sent running through his mind. As I thought this, an image of us shot through my mind and I was instantly engulfed with lust for this beautiful man. My core was dripping wet, my nipples tightened and my body was engulfed in warmth. My eyes widened as I looked into his. Where the hell had that image come from? I hadn't been thinking of sex at that precise minute. Not that I don't think of sex with Edward 50 or more times a day but not at that instant. But I also wasn't beyond taking advantage of the situation either.

I smiled at Edward, "Wanna join me for a shower?"

He looked at me for an instant in shock, then smiled. He grabbed me from the bed and we were in the shower within seconds, the water already nicely hot. I might eventually get used to vampire speed, but I wasn't going to count on it.

We made it to my house just before my curfew and Charlie pointedly looked at the clock on the wall as I walked in the door. I just smiled at him and shrugged. I was on time so there wasn't much he could do about it.

I sadly said goodnight to Edward, even knowing that he would be in my room by the time I got there. I went to the kitchen and grabbed something to drink and yelled out to Charlie to see if he wanted a beer. Hearing an affirmative response, I grabbed a Rainier beer for him and wandered out to the living room. I sat down on the couch and handed him his drink and sipped mine. Charlie was watching a re-play of some sports game so I bid him goodnight and headed to my room. Edward was lounging on my bed when I entered and I giggled when I saw him. I sat down on my bed and gave him a smile. He looked smiled back at me and I lay down against him. Before long, my eyes got heavy and I started drifting off to sleep.

The rest of the week passed much the same. Although Caleb continued to occasionally picture his sexual fantasies with me whenever he caught sight of me, but most of his fantasies seemed to feature a girl by the name of Fae much to Edward and my relief.

I'd met Fae just the other day and she seemed like a really nice girl. She also had a thing for Caleb which was sort of a relief for me as well. I still hadn't had a chance to get in touch with Leah and discuss this imprinting thing in more detail but as the days passed, it felt more and more like that is what had happened between me and Edward. Ever since we had been completely intimate, I felt more possessive than ever. Especially when we were around the other kids at the school and I could tell he was feeling the same. Every single time another guy looked at me, I could feel his body go tense. I'd try to soothe him by touching him softly and it usually eased him. But I was feeling the same way. I felt it wouldn't take much for me to go off on one of these skanks in school.

If that was all that I had to deal with lately, I'd be in heaven. But we hadn't heard from or about James, Laurent or Victoria yet. We'd managed to hear that there were some curious deaths in Port Angeles but nothing so far in Forks. It made me slightly nervous to know that they were out there somewhere and I didn't know what James was planning to do.

I knew that the Quileute were keeping an ear out for them and patrolling the area of the reservation and that the Cullens were patrolling the town. Carlisle had actually met with the chief in a neutral area to discuss the problem of the 3 nomad vampires. He was the perfect choice to approach them since he was the one that negotiated the original treaty. I was just happy that they came to an agreement to protect the town from them. It was good that they were willing to lose the hostilities and work together.

My mother kept in touch with me every day through email. I told her about Edward but not that he was a vampire of course. I could just imagine THAT conversation. I did miss her but was glad that there was distance between us and she couldn't get into the middle of my relationship with him. It was bad enough dealing with Charlie and his over protectiveness, it's kind of funny that he hasn't been a full time father in all these years but as soon as I landed here he was all about being my "dad".

I was still trying to figure out these images I kept having that seemed to be from Edward's mind. It was really weird. It wasn't like hearing Caleb's thoughts; it was actual pictures in my mind, the most vivid ones just happening to be of us being intimate. Those were pretty uncomfortable when they hit me right in the middle of class. My first thought when it happened was to grab Edward and drag him to the closest janitor's closet and have my way with him. I could just imagine the reaction if I did that!

By the end of the week, I knew I couldn't put off getting a hold of Leah any longer. I really needed to talk to someone that was going through something similar to what I was.

I called her after school on Friday and she sounded so pleased to hear from me that I regretted not phoning sooner. We made plans to meet for lunch on Saturday at the diner again. Charlie informed me that we were going to a bonfire on La Push on Sunday evening and I knew I wouldn't have a choice. That meant I had Friday and Saturday evening and Sunday during the day to spend time with Edward and the others. The weekend just didn't seem to ever have enough time.

Saturday finally came and I spent the morning cleaning up the house and getting ready for lunch, promising to meet Edward and the others at the Cullen house mid afternoon. I made a list of groceries we would need for the house and left the list for Charlie. Thankfully, we took turns doing the grocery shopping since I did all the cooking for the two of us.

I arrived early at the diner and grabbed a table in the corner away from everyone else to give Leah and me some privacy to talk. I sat there thinking about Edward and wishing I with him. I didn't wait too long before she arrived and joined me. She looked at me for a few minutes and then smiled at me.

"You've imprinted!"

Startled, I looked at her in surprise. "What? How did you know that?"

"I could hear your thoughts as I approached. You must be getting further along in your transformation now. Who is he? Do I know him?"

"Uhm, he's a guy at school" I didn't want to give her much information since I didn't really know her that well and there was the whole vampire/shape-shifter enemy thing.

She grinned at me. "You are sooo lucky!"

I could feel myself blushing. "Leah, how do you know when you've been imprinted?"

"I guess it's hard to explain. Being Quileute myself, I just seem to know when others are imprinted. There is something that you give off letting others know you are mated and to leave you alone. It's only obvious to others if they are physically close to you. Has no one told you before?"

"I haven't been around anyone from the reservation lately. The only one near me lately is Caleb and we aren't the best of friends. So what do you know about this imprinting thing Leah?"

"Well, from what I heard it's like finding your soul mate; the other half of yourself. Like an eagle or wolf, you will mate for life. I've heard that it makes you freakingly possessive of the other person too so if you feel abnormally jealous, it's all part of the imprinting. And of course, the sex is supposed to be amazing. I haven't experienced this myself yet so are you going to share?"

I blushed profusely at her words, my mind going back to the time spent with Edward lately. She was right, the sex was amazing. Once Edward realized I was not made of glass and relaxed, we went at it like bunnies as the saying goes. He was still careful but I could live with that. I wasn't sure that I wanted to share that kind of information with Leah though. It was private. It was bad enough that Jasper could feel our emotions when we were at the Cullen's house and Alice looked at us all knowingly whenever we were around her. Privacy was hard to come by in a house full of vampires with special abilities and obscenely acute hearing. Oh Crap! I have to try not to think about that around her.

Leah laughed at me and changed the subject. She admitted she hadn't been around anyone on the reservation since the impromptu potlatch at the Black's the other weekend. She had decided to stay away from the rest of the shape-shifters until she was finished doing the transformation although I had to think it would be hard to do it without talking to someone. Her thoughts were sad as she told me this and I felt I should have made more of an effort to talk to her since our last lunch and promised myself that I would in the future.

"Leah, you said you heard my thoughts? Is that normal? No one told me anything about this. I am really getting tired of all this stuff popping up and no one bothering to tell me that it could happen. It was kind of freaky to all of a sudden hear Caleb's thoughts on Monday at school, especially HIS thoughts."

Leah looked surprised. "You can hear others thoughts too? Have you talked to Billy about it at all? He is descended from one of our Chiefs so he knows all the legends. But from sitting here with you now, I seem to only read your thoughts if you are deeply emotional about the subject. Like you were when I got here, thinking about your mate. I haven't heard anything else from you though."

I puzzled over this. Maybe that's why I could hear Caleb's so intensely, because his emotions were involved with his thoughts. And that explains why I could hear Leah's thoughts when she was thinking about her transformation. Well, now I knew what I was dealing with anyway. Edward and the family were safe for now.

"Leah, have you ever heard of imprinted mates seeing images from each other's minds?"

She looked at me strangely for a moment and indicated that this was a new one on her. She'd only heard that the imprinted mates could hear most every thought each other had no matter what the distance between them. She wasn't sure how it would work with me but the images thing sounded interesting.

We finished up with lunch and I headed outside. I was surprised to see Alice's car sitting in the parking lot and as I approached I realized that both Alice and Jasper were sitting in it.

"Hey guys. What's up? Is something wrong?" I felt my chest constrict suddenly. "Edward's okay isn't he?!"

Alice and Jasper looked at each other for a moment then turned back to me.

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2411 words.

Updated Nov 10, 2009


	32. Past Lover, Chapter 31

**Characters and Twilight belong to S. Meyer. Twists, turns and new characters belong to me.**

**Welcome to all the new readers following this story. I hope you're enjoying it. **

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**Chapter 31 - Past Lover  
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**Edward's POV**

I lay on my bed thinking about Bella and the week that had just transpired. It was Saturday and I had just left her an hour ago, before Charlie was up and about. I knew it was risky staying with her at night but she didn't seem to want me to leave her alone. With James and Victoria out there, I had to admit that I was much happier staying with her during the night as well. There was no way that Charlie could protect her from the tracker. Even though Bella seemed to be transforming into the shape-shifters she was a descendant of, the transformation wasn't complete and we didn't even know if she would completely transform.

While Bella was at lunch with Leah trying to get some answers about her transformation, I decided to go hunting. It had been a while since I went and it was just so much easier to be around Bella's blood if I kept hunting on a somewhat regular basis. The rest of the family had gone within the last couple of days so weren't interested in going with me today. That was okay though. I could do with some time on my own. Alice didn't see anything happening today so I felt safe to go a little further today. If I left soon, I'd make it back in plenty of time to spend a few hours with Bella before she had to be home for her curfew.

I let everyone know I was heading out and headed north towards the Canadian Border. I knew that there had been instances of human deaths in Port Angeles since we had ran into the nomads so I skirted around that area. I didn't want to take the chance of running into any of them today.

We were still quite concerned that the 3 of them hadn't been back in this area or attempted to approach Bella. I knew her transformation was continuing and from everything I'd learned lately, it seemed that there was this imprinting thing we were dealing with now. I knew Bella had decided to lunch with Leah to get some more information. I also was aware that something had happened last night that had spooked her. I only could hope that she would discuss it with me as soon as she figured out what was going on. I didn't like being in the dark with her. The inability to read her thoughts was one of the worse things. After being in on everyone's thoughts for so many decades, it was actually quite annoying to not be able to read the one person's thoughts I most wanted to.

The weather to the north was sunnier than near Forks today so I kept to the deep forest. A few days ago, we'd learned about a mountain lion problem near a small town up by the Canadian border so I headed in that direction. While bears were Emmett's food of choice, mine were mountain lions. I liked the challenge they represented and if I could help prevent one from terrorizing a small town of human, so much the better. We did try to help humanity as much as possible.

I had just finished off the mountain lion near a sheep ranch when I felt another presence near me. The lion had been stalking the rancher's small herd and was starting to get braver near the house. It wouldn't be long before it started to go nearer to the town and start stalking people's pets and possibly small children. It was just too dangerous to allow big cats to get that near the human population.

I held myself perfectly still behind the large tree at the edge of the pasture and waited. I could smell a slightly familiar scent in the air. A scent I hadn't caught wind of in a few years now. I was trying to place it when I heard some voices approaching from the North end of the ranch. Vampire hearing was great. The ability to hear from a distance had saved my family many times and that combined with Alice's ability to see possible futures was a bonus considering our lifestyle. There were sometimes too many instances of "normal" vampires that decided to check out the "weird vegetarian vampires".

As the voices came closer, I started to hear random thoughts and realized that I did know the ones approaching where I was. It was Kate and Tanya from the Denali coven in Alaska. What were they doing here? I knew that we'd received no messages of them being in the area. I'd spent a little bit of time up near there coven a few years ago and I knew Tanya had quite the thing for me. It had been nothing but a sexual release on my part, but I had always gotten the feeling that it was more on her side.

I stood perfectly still trying to decide whether or not I should expose my location to them or just stay silent and let them pass by. Of course, if they were heading to see my family, it would probably be a good idea to give them a head's up regarding the nomads in the area. Crap! If Tanya was coming to Forks, I could definitely see a problem arising with Bella. This imprinting thing that had happened between us made for some very jealous emotions for both of us. I wasn't sure how she would deal with having Tanya around, even if it was for a short period of time. The other problem would be the shape-shifters. Even though the Denali's did try to limit their feedings on humans to only those that they were physically involved with, they did bite them and that was against the treaty our family had signed with the Quileute band.

I decided I'd better see what the girls' plans were instead of letting them end up in Forks in the middle of things that they had no idea of. I just hoped I could make sure Tanya was completely convinced that what had happened in the past between us was not going to be happening any longer.

As Kate and Tanya approached my location, I could hear their thoughts more clearly. They were on the way to visit my family so stepped out from behind the tree so that they could see me. Tanya's eyes lit up as she noticed me standing there and with vampire speed she was latched onto me and kissing me within seconds. I had to grip her upper arms quite firmly to force her off of me. Strangely enough, even though I'd always found her quite attractive in the past, I felt absolutely nothing as she had pressed her body against mine. Wow, I guess this imprinting thing did go across species. Well at least Bella would never have to worry about me straying on her, I chuckled to myself.

Tanya, realizing what I was trying to do, leaned back away from me and looked at me in shock. She had the typical looks of a vampire, pale alabaster skin, blonde hair but her eyes were a pale form of the typical red of those that drank human blood. Her coven fed not only on the humans they had relationships in but they did feed on animals as well.

"You smell different, Edward. What the hell?"

She stepped back away from me, shaking her head as if to get rid of a nasty scent.

"Uhm, not sure. I'm not quite following what you mean, Tanya. I don't go around smelling myself." I replied laughing.

"Ha. Funny guy. You don't smell the same as you did the last time we met. And anyway, what's up with pushing me away then?"

"Well, Tanya. The thing is. I'm not single anymore so I'm not really comfortable with your little greeting."

"What!? What do you mean you're not single? You were the last time you came up north!" her voice was getting quite an aggressive tone to it that I was not too sure I liked.

I looked away from her and smiled at Kate, who smiled back politely but I could tell she was listening to our conversation with great interest. Tanya could be great as a friend and companion most of the time, but she didn't like being crossed and I wasn't sure how she was going to take the news that I was now completely unavailable to her.

"Yeah. Well. It's a pretty recent development. We haven't really sent out announcements or anything." I said this with some degree of sarcasm. I was starting to get a little annoyed. Why was I even defending myself to her? We weren't in any form of a relationship; it had been just a quick sexual encounter every few years if we happened to meet up. If this was going to be her reaction, I was not looking forward to her coming face to face with Bella. Shit was going to hit the fan and I was going to be caught right in the middle. Given the reactions that Bella had had to just the human girls in the school that I'd never even had anything to do with, I was really a little apprehensive about what her reaction to Tanya was going to be. I knew my reactions were over the top when it came to Bella and other guys looking at her and having sexual thoughts and fantasies about her. I could have happily killed a few of them in the last couple of weeks, especially that god damn Caleb. Until he met up with that girl Fae, I'd foreseen him not existing too much longer on this earth.

"Where are you two heading?" I tried to make it sound pretty casual so as not to make Tanya think I was too interested.

Kate was the one that answered as Tanya just stood there glaring at me. "We were actually coming down for a visit with you guys. We had been hearing about some deaths near your area and thought we'd see if you needed any sort of assistance? Especially after one of our kind appeared the other day in our area and was talking about a couple he had left down here. He said that his former companions were after a family of vampires and it sounded like you might have some trouble."

I looked at Kate with surprise. "Laurent?"

"Yes, that was the name of the one that showed up in our area. Irina took quite the liking to him so she stayed behind. But since we weren't really doing anything, Tanya and I decided to pop down."

"I'm sure Esme and Carlisle will be most grateful for your assistance, Kate. Thank you."

She smiled in response but her eyes darted over towards Tanya, a frown creasing her brow. Tanya had stood there glaring at me the whole time that Kate and I'd been talking and her thoughts were really starting to get uncomfortable for me so I decided it was time that I headed home. Turning to Kate, I let her know that I was heading home if they wanted to travel with me. She accepted and we headed off. Tanya walking behind us staring daggers at my back. I had the feeling that I was going to very grateful that Bella didn't have the ability to read anyone's mind besides the pack.

We passed close by a cell tower on the way and I sent Alice a message letting her know who I had bumped into on my travels. I knew she would understand the significance of what I was telling her and do what needed to be done. Hopefully Jasper would go along to help maintain some degree of peace and I wouldn't be running into a maelstrom of emotions when I got back.

I filled Kate in on what happened with the nomads and the thoughts I'd garnered from both James and Victoria during the encounter. She was quite concerned that a tracker was wandering around our area, which I was as well. Tanya didn't say anything to either of us but we knew she was listening to the conversation. The closer we got to Forks, the more uncomfortable I was beginning to get. My cell went off. It was messages from Alice letting me know that she got my message and that she and Jasper were going to go and pick up Bella. I felt bad that I was leaving her to break the news of Tanya to Bella.

By the time we made it back to Forks, I knew Bella would be at our house so I headed straight there with my travelling companions. The house was quiet when we got to the door, never a really good thing.

I saw Kate and Tanya both cock their heads as we approached the door and sniff the air. As I opened the door, Bella's scent was stronger and they looked at each other, then at me with a surprised look.

"Is there a human in there Edward?"

I wasn't sure quite how to respond since technically, Bella was not quite human per se. She was much more than that.

Just as I opened my mouth to respond, Esme opened the door and greeted both of them. I walked in and headed straight to the living room where I sensed Bella was. She was sitting on the sofa with Alice on one side and Jasper on the other. Rose and Emmett were sitting together in one of the Lazy Boy chairs and Carlisle was standing just inside the room. Reading Alice and Jasper's thoughts, I knew that Bella hadn't taken the news of one of my ex's, for want of a better word, being back in our area very well. Alice looked up at me and indicated that I'd better get my ass over to Bella before I even thought of doing anything else. As I approached the sofa, Alice got up to give me room to sit next to Bella. I engulfed her into my embrace and pulled her tightly to me. Her body stiffened against me as she turned to stare at the two newcomers that had walked into the room with Esme.

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Hmm .. Bella is a little insecure eh? LOL.. Reviews mean updates faster .. j/s :-)

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2817 words.

Updated Nov 4, 2009


	33. Our Day, Chapter 32

**The original characters belong to .. the new characters and plotline are all mine.**

**Summary – What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?**

**Welcome more new readers! Made my day to see so many new people reading it!**

**Please leave a review and let me know what you think about the story!**

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**: - )**

**Chapter 32 – Our Day**

**Bella's POV**

I was still a little annoyed that Edward hadn't been completely honest with me regarding the women in his past. When I first came out of the diner and saw the looks on Jasper and Alice's faces, I feared the worst and thought he was hurt, or even worse, dead. I guess they thought they that one of Edward's past lovers coming to town was just as bad.

I almost laughed when they told me what they were so worried about. I had to admit, my feelings of jealously were over the top with this imprinting thing and I knew that this Tanya had better just fucking keep her hands off of him. I was aware that I couldn't do anything to her but Edward would certainly pay the consequences.

Alice kept watching me closely while they told me who Tanya was and what her relationship with Edward had been. Knowing that there hadn't really been anything on Edward's side but friendship was reassuring but from what Alice had explained, Tanya didn't like losing things she considered were hers. She had always been convinced that since she'd managed to get Edward in her bed, she could eventually have him in her life for an eternally. No one planned on me coming into his life. Now he was mine and there was no way in hell that this bitch was getting her claws back into him.

The three of us went back to the Cullen house to wait for Edward and company. I was tense when they arrived and got even more so when I heard the front door open. Alice and Jasper sat on either side of me on the couch keeping me calm when all I really wanted to do was jump up and run to Edward. Jasper thought it best to not get Tanya's back up more than it would be already. Alice explained that she had seen in her vision that Edward had already told Tanya that he was unavailable to her and she wasn't exactly happy about it. It would be best if Edward made it clear when he arrived at the house where his loyalties lay.

I had to admit a very big feeling of relief when Edward entered the living room and crossed to where I was sitting immediately. Alice moved over on the sofa and he sat down and pulled me tightly into his arms. I almost relaxed into them until I looked past him to see two absolutely beautiful vampires walk into the room. One was chatting happily with Esme as they came in but the other was glaring daggers at me. I felt my body stiffen in Edward's arms and my eyes met Tanya's. Jasper shifted uncomfortably next to me as the feelings of animosity I felt towards this bitch emanated from me.

Edward leaned down to whisper in my ear, "It's okay Bella. I love you."

Tanya had obviously heard him because her glare towards me increased tenfold. I couldn't help but smirk at her as he pressed a kiss to the side of my head and I turned my head towards him to plant one on him. I could feel his body react to my kiss and I was suddenly wishing we were anywhere but in this room. I wanted to jump him so badly; it was getting ridiculous how strongly just a kiss could turn me on that I would have probably done him right then and there no matter who was present. I took a deep breath to try and calm down my emotions and bodily reactions to his touch. Edward's arm tightened around me and I could feel his smile against my hair. It was good to know that he felt the same way.

Esme introduced the two new vampires to me. I stood up with Edward to greet Kate, who was more than friendly to me. I could see she was curiously about why a human spending time with a vampire family, despite the obvious connection between Edward and me. We hadn't discussed what we would say to outsiders about me but I knew I could trust Carlisle to deal with it. Tanya didn't acknowledge me at all but greeted the rest of the family friendly enough.

Carlisle explained about James, Victoria and Laurent in greater detail than Edward had when they met up. Kate was quite concerned upon hearing that there had been some deaths in Port Angeles. It seemed that Victoria and James were being a little sloppy with their feeding. Obviously the most important thing in the vampire world was the secrecy of their existence and if these two were feeding with no fear of the consequences, it could have dire costs to the rest of the family and other vampires in the area.

Tanya wanted to know what was so important here that James and Victoria would risk exposure and Carlisle explained that he'd become enamoured with Bella. Of course, this made Tanya state that they should just get rid of the human. End of problem.

This just managed to piss off everyone in the room including the usually calm and collected Esme.

"Bella is part of our family now, Tanya. We don't harm our family." Carlisle stated.

I saw Tanya shrug and she dropped that line of thought. I was suddenly extremely tired from the emotional rollercoaster I'd been riding all day and whispered to Edward that I was going to head up to his room and lay down. I still had to talk to him regarding what I learned from Leah this afternoon and was hoping he would come up with me.

My hopes panned out when he told the rest of the family that we were going upstairs for a bit and would see them all later. If looks could kill, Tanya could have dropped me with one look. I heard a growl from her direction as we walked past her and Kate. I saw Kate put a hand on Tanya's shoulder and grip tightly. I almost wish she hadn't. I may have not transformed completely yet, but I knew I was stronger than the average human now. The bitch would get a surprise if she ever tried anything with me.

When Edward and I got to his room, he immediately turned and took me into his arms. He started kissing me like he hadn't seen me in a week instead of just a few hours.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I didn't mean to keep you in the dark about Tanya. She has never been that important to me and I had no idea that she would ever come down to see us in Forks. We have always gone up to Alaska to visit them."

I wrapped my arms around his waist and decided that it just wasn't worth staying annoyed at him. I couldn't expect him to tell me about everything that had happened in his 100+ years of existence. I just had to realize that there were things that I wouldn't know about his life and things I probably didn't even want to know. I wasn't about to lose the love of my life over some petty thing in his past. And yes, I did consider Tanya one of those petty things that I'm not going to worry about.

"It's okay Edward. I'm not mad. But we do have to talk about something." I said as I walked towards the couch.

He followed me with a puzzled look on his face.

I faced Edward on the couch and took a deep breath. "It seems that we are definitely imprinted mates, Edward."

"Okay. What does that entail? You'd mentioned imprinting before and I assume that is where the possessiveness and jealousy are coming from, so how does this differ?"

"Well, I know that you sensed that I was a little distracted this morning before our shower."

"Yes, I did. I was wondering what was wrong but I knew you'd tell me eventually."

I blushed remembering the visions I had seen in my mind from him this morning. I felt his fingertips graze my cheek and looked up to see his eyes darken with lust. Apparently my blushing was a turn on for him.

"Well, I asked Leah about the whole imprinting thing at lunch. By the way, she knows I've been imprinted. Apparently imprinted mates give off a scent to let others know that they aren't available. Anyway, this morning when you were thinking about me, I had a vision in my head of what you were thinking about. That was really HOT by the way." I couldn't help but blush again as I said this and Edward's eyes went even darker.

"Visions? What do you mean visions?"

"I saw what you wanted to do. It was like having snapshots in my head. Leah says it only happens in the strongest mated pairs. So I guess this imprinting is definitely able to cross species. Even though I guess technically we were or are human in some way, it isn't really crossing species. Although, I'm sure the Quileutes won't think about it that way."

"So what all does this mean for us?"

"Well, Leah explained that it was like being mated for life, like a wolf or an eagle. I guess it means you're stuck with me."

Edward smiled at me, "I can't think of anyone else I'd rather be "stuck" with, Bella,"

He engulfed me into his embrace and started kissing me. My body responded immediately to his touch and the next thing I knew, we were naked and in his bed.

"Edward, everyone's downstairs!"

"Don't care," he mumbled against the side of my neck as he kissed his way towards my breasts.

At that point, I didn't care either but I hoped that Tanya enjoyed the show since when we were together, we weren't exactly quiet about it.

A few hours later, after making love a couple of times and napping just a bit, we wandered downstairs to find almost everyone in the living room. Emmett looked up at us with a huge grin letting us know that we had definitely not been quiet in our activities. Carlisle and Esme just gave us a small smile accompanied by a look that said that we could have been a little more discreet knowing that we had company in the house. Jasper and Alice were nowhere to be seen and I assumed that they were off on their own. Considering Jaspers ability to sense emotions, I'm sure our activities started their own need to be alone together. Tanya was off in a corner of the room, pretending to read a book but was obviously really pissed off about being here with us. I guess she thought she would still have a shot with Edward if she came to Forks with him. She lifted her eyes to glare at us again.

Kate was sitting with Carlilse and Esme and seemed at ease with the whole situation. I gathered they had filled her in on the whole situation with me and Edward.

Edward looked down at me and smiled. Visions of us together popping into his head.

"Watch it buddy, or we're going to be heading back upstairs for round three" I said in response "and I have to get home soon!"

His smile turned into a grin and shrugged. "Can't help it. Maybe this is part of the imprinting thing."

I laughed at him. "It probably is. I wonder how the others do it without spending 24/7 in bed."

I heard a growl come from the back corner of the room. Tanya again. Well that is one vampire that is just going to have to get used to me and Edward being together.

Looking at the time, I realized that we needed to head to my place. It was getting close to my curfew given that it was a school night. We said good night to everyone and headed out. They all knew Edward wouldn't be home tonight. He always stayed with me.

We got to my place in time to keep Charlie happy. Edward said goodnight without coming into the house. I knew he'd be in my room by the time I was ready for bed. Charlie, of course, was still up watching some sports show. I just can't fathom how anyone could watch as much sports as he did.

I grabbed a snack from the kitchen, happy to see Charlie had replenished the cupboards, said goodnight and headed to my room. As always, Edward was there when I finished having my shower and changing for bed. I ran to him and jumped into his arms, sighing with happiness that he was all mine.

"What are you thinking?" I heard him whisper in my ear.

I leaned back and looked up into his eyes. "Wouldn't you like to know." I laughed, knowing that it was the one thing that he really like to. It was so interesting that I was the only one that Edward knew that was impossible for him to read.

His eyes turned serious as they gazed into mine. "I would really like to know, Bella."

"Nothing bad," I smiled at him, "just really happy that you're all mine."

His arms went around me again and squeezed gently. "I know the feeling, Bella. I'm really glad you're mine too. And please don't let Tanya bother you. She is nothing to me."

I smiled over the fact that Edward actually thought that I was worried about her. "It's okay. I know she doesn't mean anything to you. I just hope she knows it too or there might be a little problem between us."

I fell asleep snuggled up to the love of my life, happy in the knowledge that nothing would ever come between us, not even James or Tanya!

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2389 words

Posted November 30, 2009


	34. Transforming, Chapter 33

Characters and Twilight belong to S. Meyers. Twists, turns and new characters belong to me.

**Summary – What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?**

**Another update! All the new readers and reviewers inspired me. Hope you enjoy the new chapter.**

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**Transforming - Chapter 33**

**Edward's POV**

Well, that went better than I expected. I silently sighed with relief that Bella didn't react badly to Tanya's presence. On the other hand, I was pretty sure it wasn't put to bed either. Tanya was going to be a problem if she and Kate hung around the family for any length of time. One of the biggest things that I learned hanging out up in Alaska with the Denali coven was that Tanya was an extremely sore loser and apparently, I was a prize. I knew Bella wouldn't attempt to do anything unless provoked but she wasn't a full shape-shifter and we didn't know if she was going to become one. Bella could get seriously hurt if an altercation happened between the two of them. I'd have to see if I could keep them apart whenever I wasn't with Bella.

How did my life go from so simple to so complicated within a matter of weeks? This imprinting thing came out of the blue and I still wasn't completely sure I understood all the ramifications of it. I knew that in Bella's words, I was "stuck" with her and had absolutely no problem with it. She was my life now. I didn't want to exist in a world that she didn't.

I lay in Bella's bed watching her sleep. It was something I'd never get tired of doing. She fascinated me. I loved listening to her talk in her sleep. It was very enlightening. Although I couldn't read her mind, I heard many things while she slept that she would never say to me in a conscious state. I knew she loved me. I knew she dreamed of me. I knew she was more worried about this shape-shifting business that she would ever let on to any of us that cared about her.

I sighed. I knew she had a hard time talking about her feelings about the stuff she was going through. It was a part of her that I wish I could get her to overcome but I knew that it was something I was just going to have to deal with. I couldn't say that I was totally forthcoming with my own thoughts and feelings. Going for so many decades without having anyone in my life that I wanted to share it with, made me extremely reticent in sharing. I smiled as I looked down at Bella again as she mumbled in her sleep. I think that sharing was something that I could definitely get used to doing.

All of a sudden I heard a growl come from her and I almost fell out of the bed. It wasn't something I'd ever heard before. She tossed restlessly for a few minutes then calmed down and went back into a deep sleep.

I lay there watching her for a few minutes when my cell phone started to vibrate. I looked at the display to see that it was Carlisle. Puzzled, I answered to find out that he had just gotten word that a couple of hikers had disappeared the afternoon before. Charlie was heading a search party, which explained why I'd heard him leave a couple of hours ago, but Carlisle wasn't hopeful that they would be found alive. He suspected that James and Victoria were back in this area. The problem was, Alice hadn't seen a thing and couldn't figure out why. For some reason, she was getting snippets and flashes of visions but nothing concrete. It was almost like they knew how her visions worked and were working around that to keep her in the dark.

I hung up and debated whether or not to wake up Bella and tell her what was going on. I decided to wait until morning since there wasn't much to be done tonight. It was doubtful that they'd try anything tonight but I knew we would have to give the Quileutes a head's up tomorrow.

Close to sunrise, I heard Charlie's cruiser pull into the driveway and I quickly left Bella's side to head home, quickly leaving a note to let her know I would be back to pick her up for school.

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**Bella's POV**

I woke up with the realization that Edward wasn't with me. I rolled over to find the note he left next to my cell phone on the night table. I could tell from the tone of the note that something had happened but I'd have to wait until he picked me up for school to find out what. I had a sinking feeling that it had to do with James though.

I stretched the kinks out of my body and felt a little more painful than the nightly aches and pains that I'd been feeling for the last few months. I groaned, knowing that another phase of the shape-shifter transformation might be happening. The last thing I needed was another phase starting right now. Wasn't it enough that I had to deal with James and Victoria and now Tanya?

I hopped out of bed and headed for the shower. The hot water felt so good on my aching body that I honestly didn't want to leave the shower and only did so once the temperature got too cold to stay in. I felt flushed as I stood in my room trying to decide what to wear. My cell phone suddenly decided to ring and I smiled realizing it was Alice. It takes a pixie to call with the solution to my wardrobe dilemma, I snickered.

After telling me what to wear, she let me know that Edward would be there soon and not to leave the house until he got there. Now I really knew that something was up and I impatiently paced the living room waiting for him to arrive.

He took me into his arms and hugged me tightly the second I opened the door for him.

"Okay. What's happened? First Alice tells me to stay in the house until you arrived and now you're hugging me like I'm going to disappear any second."

I could feel him shudder against me. "Victoria and James are closer to Forks. I heard your Dad leave in the middle of the night and Carlisle phoned to let me know that a couple of hikers had disappeared yesterday near here."

I looked up at Edward in shock. "How did they get so close without any of us knowing?"

"I don't know but you're going to have to let the Quileutes know what's going on. They need to keep their eyes open for them."

"Okay. I'll call Billy right now."

"Bella, are you okay? You look a little more flushed than you normally do."

"I feel a little warmer and more achy today but otherwise I'm okay. Don't worry so much."

He looked at me strangely for a moment and then shook his head. "Alright, I'll let it go for now but if you start to feel worse, please let me know and we can come up with an excuse to leave school early."

I laughed a little at him and agreed. He was such a worrywart.

The day went by fairly quickly but I wasn't really feeling well. I didn't want to let Edward know exactly how bad I was starting to feel but of course, I didn't count on the all seeing pixie butting in. Edward got angry when she called him to let him know that I needed to get home right away. That something was happening with me that had to do with my transformation. There was no news on James or Victoria but he decided to take me to his house instead of mine.

My temperature had steadily risen all day and the aches and pains in my muscles hadn't let up. In fact, it seemed to get worse as the day progressed. When I'd discussed the transformation the first time with Jacob, he had told me how painful the final part was but I hadn't really paid a lot of attention to what he'd told me. After all, it wasn't like we had anticipated that I would be going through the full transformation or anything. I had a feeling that we'd been very wrong.

By the time we got to Edward's house, he had to carry me into the house because I couldn't walk very well. He yelled for Carlisle and took me into Carlisle's emergency treatment room.

At this point, my memory became fuzzy. I knew that Edward was with me and that he had let Esme into the room. Carlisle came in next and started to examine me. The last thing I heard coherently was Carlisle asking Edward if there was someone that we could call.

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**Edward's POV**

I was scared spitless. It felt like it took forever to get home with Bella and her temperature kept rising. She seemed to feel better when I could lay my hand on her so I did as much as possible as I drove to the house. I knew Carlisle and Esme were home. Carlisle had taken the day off of work given the situation that had now arisen with the missing hikers.

I pulled up to the front of the house and quickly scooped Bella out of the car, rushing up the front stairs and into the house. I yelled for Carlisle and headed straight to his examining room. Kate and Esme came running as well with Tanya following slowly behind, anger emanating in waves from her. They all stopped outside the room and I asked Esme to come in the room with me as Bella moaned in obvious pain. It had gotten worse as we'd driven here. I was at a loss on how to help her.

"Is there someone from the Quileutes that you can call Edward? Someone that Bella would trust?"

I instantly thought of Leah who Bella had been talking to about the transformation and imprinting.

"I think I know just the person. I'll be right back."

I grabbed Bella's cell phone out of her pocket and located Leah's number. Luckily she answered on the second ring.

"Bella! I was just thinking of you!"

I cleared my throat, almost hesitant to speak. "Uhm, yeah. This isn't Bella. My name is Edward. I'm Bella's boyfriend."

"Oh! Hi Edward! Why are you calling me from Bella's phone?"

"Well, the thing is Leah. Something is happening with her and we're at a bit of a loss on how to help her."

There was silence on the other end for a minute. I could hear her breathing become a little irregular. She took a deep breath and her voice was barely above a whisper as she responded.

"What's wrong with her?"

"First thing I want to let you know is that I know what Bella is, Leah. And I am going to be honest with you. My last name is Cullen."

I could hear her sudden intake of breath as she recognized my name.

"Yes, I'm one of those Cullens"

I could hear her take another deep breath. "Where is she?"

"She's at my family's home. My father has a treatment room setup at the house. As I'm sure you know, he's a doctor at the Fork's hospital."

"Okay. What is happening?"

"Her temperature started to rise during the night last night and she told me this morning that her muscles were more painful than they have been since her transformation started."

I heard Leah's sharp intake of breath. "Well, sounds like Bella's going through the final phase of the transformation process. I'm not sure what will happen with her being around your family. It might be best if you brought her out to La Push."

Although I was somewhat expecting what she told me, I'm sure if my heart was actually beating it would have stopped at her words. I was going to have to take her out to the reservation and leave her with them.

I took an unnecessary breath. "Alright. Where should I take her, Leah? You're the expert here."

I heard her give a dry laugh. "Hardly, Edward. Look I can tell that you really care for Bella. I'm assuming that you're her imprinted mate?"

"Yes. I am."

"Okay. This is going to be really hard on her. It's extremely painful. Most of us aren't imprinted when we go through the final stage so I'm not sure what will happen if you're separated from her during this. I'm going to go and talk to Billy Black and I'll call you right back. Just try to keep her as comfortable as possible until you hear from me. The one thing that could help, given your body temperature, is for you to hold her. It might help bring her temperature down and ease the pain in her muscles."

Finally, something I could do to help Bella. "Thanks Leah."

"For what?"

"A few things actually. For not freaking out. For being here to help Bella. I'm sure finding out who I am was quite the shock for you but you haven't let it affect your efforts to help her. For that, I will be eternally grateful. She is my life and I hate to see her in such pain."

"No problem, Edward. I like Bella. You can't help who you love and being Quileute, she can't help who she imprints with. Being hostile about it serves no purpose."

"Oh. One more thing Leah. there are two vampires in the area that are not like my family. They are actually on the hunt for Bella. It's a long story but be careful if you're off the reservation. I know that Bella called Billy this morning to let him know that about the missing hikers and our suspicions on what happened to them. So be careful. I'd hate to have to tell Bella that these two had hurt one of her friends."

"Thanks for the head's up, Edward. Billy has actually let everyone know all about the situation. I'm sure that Bella had told you that I hadn't told the pack about my transformation when we had last talked but I decided to come clean just the other day. I've been kept in the loop since then. We haven't sensed any vampires on the reservation and because of the treaty with your family, we haven't patrolled in town. I know your family has been doing that. They seem to be keeping away from us with great success."

"Alright. I'll let you go and will wait for your call."

I hung up the phone and went back into the treatment room. Bella was lying on the bed shivering and moaning. I quickly filled Carlisle in on what Leah had to say and I climbed up on the bed with Bella, enveloping her into my embrace. She seemed to calm down quickly and turned toward me. I could feel that her temperature had increased quite a lot even in the short time I'd been away from her. Esme looked on with a worried look on her face.

"Should we call her father?"

I looked at her for a moment considering her question. "Maybe we should wait until I hear back from Leah. It might be better to tell him when she is on the reservation. I don't think it'd go over well for him to find her out here. I'm not sure how he will take finding out what we are, especially when they tell him what got those hikers and with Kate and Tanya here."

I settled into a more comfortable position for Bella and waited to hear from Leah. The coldness of my body did seem to be helping her, just like Leah thought it would.

It wasn't long before Bella's phone started to ring. It was Leah phoning back.

"Hi Leah"

"Hi Edward. So, Billy says that you should bring Bella out to the reservation. I've explained to him that you and she have imprinted and although he isn't terribly impressed with the fact, he agrees with me that it would be detrimental to Bella if you two are separated right now. He is adjusting the treaty to accommodate this new situation but it only includes you. How soon can you get her out here?"

"I can be out there in about 20 minutes. Would you mind calling Charlie and letting him know what's going on? I think it would be better coming from the pack than from me. He isn't going to be terribly impressed when he finds out what's going on anyway."

"Sure, I can do that. I'll meet you at Billy's. I'm sure you know what it's like dealing with a new vampire so you might have a bit of insight of dealing with a new shape-shifter. After talking to Billy, we are pretty sure that her imprinting instincts will overpower any other instinct she may have when she does shift."

"Good to know. Thanks for your help Leah."

I hung up the phone and scooped Bella into my arms. I filled Esme and Carlisle in as I headed to my car.

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Thanks for reading my story. Reviews make me very happy .. j/s :-)

Feel free to Twitter me at mahika or http://www (dot) twitter (dot) com / mahika

2959 words.

Updated Nov 10, 2009


	35. Completing the Process,Chapter 34

**The original characters belong to .. the new characters and plotline are all mine.**

**Summary – What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?**

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**Chapter 34 – Completing the Process**

**Bella's POV**

I knew Edward was close by but I couldn't concentrate. The last thing I remembered clearly was leaving school with him. I was vaguely aware that we were heading to his house but it was like seeing my life through an out of body experience.

I was so hot and my body hurt so much. The only time I felt even a little better was when Edward held me. The coolness of his body felt so good. I almost screamed when I felt him leave me. My body was shaking and shivering.

Fuck! If this what Jake and Leah went through, they had my sympathies! The time at the Cullens' house passed in a blur. I knew Edward had called Leah because I overheard Esme and Carlisle talking about it in one of my moments of lucidity.

It felt like every bone in my body was stretching and every molecule was changing. I fleetingly wondered what I would look like as a wolf before another wave of pain engulfed my body.

I felt Edward pick me up in his arms and could hear him talking to Esme and Carlisle as he was walking out of the house. He put me into the Volvo and we were driving somewhere.

Through clenched teeth, I asked "Edward. Where?"

I felt his hand reach over the console and grasp mine tightly. "We're going to La Push Bella."

"No! They'll hurt you. The treaty!" I managed to say through the pain.

I felt his hand let go of mine and reach up to caress my hair.

"It's okay Bella. They've altered the treaty due to our special circumstances."

I couldn't fathom what he was talking about. I moaned as another wave of sensation ran through my body. It reminded me of that old move An American Werewolf in London. I only hoped I didn't want to eat someone when I changed because at this point, change seemed inevitable.

We made it to La Push in record time and pulled up swiftly to the front of the Black's house. I was vaguely aware of Leah being there when Edward lifted me out of the car. I put my arms tightly around his neck and held on.

He carried me inside and Billy directed him to a room in the back. The house was filled with pack members and from the looks on their faces; I knew that it grated on them that Edward was there with me. I could only assume that they had been told of our imprinting.

I wasn't sure what all was going to happen in the next few hours since no one had bothered to explain the complete transformation with me. I'd never seen any of the pack actually shift to their wolf form and quite frankly, the idea of me shifting was scaring the shit out of me.

As I thought of shifting to my wolf form, I realized that Edward might actually be in danger from me. This was so not good! Could I fight my natural instinct when I shifted that would make me attack him or would our imprinting supersede that instinct?

As Edward lay me down on the bed that Billy had made up for me, I reached out to grasp his hands, moaning at the pain that went through me as I moved.

I felt him lean down to whisper in my ear, "it's alright Bella, I'm here."

I sighed and looked from him to around the room. Both Billy and Leah were in the room with us. Letting go of Edward with one hand, I reached towards Leah with it. Pulling her down closer to me since I could barely speak through the pain, I spoke in a low, strained voice. "Edward. Imprint. Safe?"

Luckily she realized what I was trying to say. She gave me a small smile meant to comfort me. "I'm pretty sure he'll be okay Bella. The pack is here to help too. They aren't very impressed that you've imprinted on a vampire but they'll deal with it and help anyway they can. Those that have already imprinted themselves know how impossible it is to resist that instinct. They're all here for you."

"Thanks." I forced myself to say. I turned my head on the pillow to look at Edward. His face was stoic. I knew he was trying to hide his anxiety over what was happening to me. Trying to keep me from worrying about him but I would always be concerned about him. I was pretty sure that he didn't really understand the depth of my feelings for him and I knew he didn't completely understand the imprinting. Well, I guess he was getting somewhat of a crash course in that.

I moaned as a new wave of pain went through me and Edward grasped my hand harder in his. Leaning down, he put his face against mine and I relished the difference in our body temperatures. I pulled at his hand, trying to tell him without words that I need him closer to me. He immediately understood and climbed into the bed next to me, laying his cool body next to mine. I snuggled as close as I could and closed my eyes.

A few minutes later, I felt a hand softly touch mine. I opened my eyes to see Billy standing next to the bed.

"I'm sorry there is nothing we can do for your pain Bella. It's something that you just have to persevere through. It seems that having Edward here is helping a great deal with it. Are you up to me telling you what to expect or would you like to rest a few minutes?"

I forced myself to keep my eyes open despite the need I felt to just go to sleep and let all of this pass. Edward gathered me closer and I knew he would be listening very closely to what Billy had to say.

"Now please. I want to make sure Edward will be safe." My only concern was Edward right now.

Billy smiled a little at that. "Edward will be fine. You aren't going to suddenly morph into a wolf and attack him Bella. It doesn't work that way. Once your body has finished the transformation process, you will have the ability to shift. I know you haven't seen it happen yet but you do have control over it. Although in the beginning intense emotions, especially anger, can cause you to shift until you have more control over yourself. As for Edward, the council believes that you are no threat to him because of the imprinting. Your protective instincts for your mate will be stronger than anything else. Of course, we will have to watch the rest of the pack that they don't try to make any threatening moves toward him around you, even jokingly. As a new shape-shifter, it will take you time to have complete control over your emotions."

In spite of my discomfort, I felt a deep relief at Billy's words. I turned to look at Edward and nuzzled into his neck. He had been listening to Billy with great concentration.

Another wave of pain shot through my body as I heard Edward start to ask Billy questions.

"How long does this process take? I can't stand to see her in so much pain." I could hear the stress in his voice. I almost wished Jasper was here to help calm us down but I knew that wouldn't be a very good idea.

"She's going through the worst of it now. It shouldn't actually be that much longer. It will most likely be finished by morning. Of course, we don't have a lot of documentation about Halflings changing completely, most don't get more than extra strength and healing abilities. I should have figured Bella would be a special case."

I heard rumblings from outside the room that sounded a lot like laughter. Nice to know I was a source of amusement to the pack while it felt like my body was being ripped apart from the inside. Edward must have felt me stiffen at the sound because he started to caress me lightly as if trying to soothe me. I turned my face into his shoulder and took a deep breath of his scent. It was always soothing to me.

Billy wandered off out of the room and I must have drifted off for a bit because the next thing I knew when I opened my eyes again, it was darker in the room. I looked toward the window and saw that there was only the barest light outside from the moon.

Edward raised his head from the pillow we were laying on as he felt me stir.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as he brushed the hair away from my face. I turned my face into his hand and nuzzled it, relishing in the feel and scent of him.

I moved a little to test the waters and realized that my body no longer felt like it was on fire. "Not bad actually. My muscles feel sore like I've been doing a major workout and I still feel quite warm but I don't feel like I'm on fire anymore. How long was I out for?"

"It's after midnight now and we got here about mid afternoon."

I gaped at him. "I've been out for hours!"

"Don't worry about it Bella. The pack dispersed a few hours ago except for Leah. Billy felt that you might want to have her around once you woke up. Do you want me to go get her?"

"Not right now. I'm feeling okay at the moment. How are you?"

Edward laughed at me. "I'm fine Bella. You're the one going through all the pain."

I sighed. "Yes but I know how I would feel if it was you going through it. I'd be willing to kill someone or make a deal with the devil to spare you."

Edward didn't respond other than to hug me tightly. I was wishing that we were back in his room instead of being in Billy's guest room. I had this irresistible urge to be much closer to him but didn't think that idea would go over well right now. I snickered in my head. I could just imagine everyone's reaction if we did that. I wondered if Charlie knew where I was? I must have said it out load because Edward lifted his head to look at me.

"Yeah, he knows. I'm not sure if he knows I'm here with you but Billy phoned and told him you were here. Let him know it was about the Quileute thing and your Dad didn't want to know anymore."

I snickered. "Yeah. That sounds like Charlie."

We were startled by a knock on the door and Leah's head popped in. She looked a little tired and I wondered if she had stayed awake all this time. I felt bad if she did since I'd been out cold.

"Hey Bella. How are you feeling now? I heard you guys talking in here and thought I'd check."

"I'm not feeling too bad actually. How did you know it was over when you went through it?"

"Well, we're all different but I'm pretty sure that you are done with the pain and stuff. Now comes the fun part. Shifting."

My jaw dropped. I'd forgotten about that part of this. How I'd forgotten, I didn't really know but throughout all the pain, the only thing I'd thought of was that I didn't want to hurt Edward.

Edward chuckled beside me as he too realized that I'd totally forgotten the end result of this process. "Nice to know I can completely distract you, Bella."

I pushed his shoulder playfully and he ended up on the floor next to the bed. I sat up and peered over the edge, dismayed.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't even push you that hard!"

He seemed to be stunned for a moment and then roared with laughter. "Looks like I'm going to have to be careful around you now."

Leah stood in the doorway doubled over in laughter and suddenly Billy was there in his wheelchair, concern written all over his face.

"Everyone okay?"

Leah explained what happened between her laughter. Billy chuckled himself over the situation and entered the room.

"You have more questions, I'm assuming Bella?"

I looked over at him and sat back on the bed while Edward picked himself up off the floor and sat next with me. I felt his arm go around my shoulders as he hugged me close to his side.

"How are you feeling now?" Billy asked me as he manoeuvred his chair around the small room.

"I'm feeling a lot better. I guess I slept through the end of it."

"Yes, most of the shifters do. It helps the psyche while the body finishes the transformation."

That made sense. Better to be unconscious while your body feels like it's tearing itself apart and reassembling into a different person.

"How does the shifting work Billy? We never really discussed earlier seeing as how no one expected me to transform completely. Oh, and how come I ended up doing so anyway? Is it because of Edward and his family? Because we imprinted?"

Billy sat there for a minute, obviously trying to think of how to answer my questions.

"To be honest Bella, I'm not sure why you have done so. It was a big surprise to us that you did. It may have something to do with Edward or it could have something to do with that other vampire that is tracking you. What is his name, James? I guess we'll never actually know. As for the shifting, the easiest way to describe it is that when you want to shift, you picture the wolf in your mind and you become it. The gene skipped my generation so I never had the honour of shifting myself but I'm sure that Leah will be here for you whenever you need."

At this point Leah jumped into the conversation. "Oh yes Bella! I'm here for you. Maybe you'd like to come out with me tomorrow and see how its done? The only other time one of us shifts, is involuntarily when we lose control of our emotions. Most of us rarely lose control but Paul seems to have quite the temper. Be careful around him. He isn't too happy about Edward."

I squeezed closer to Edward and looked at Leah with gratitude, "Thanks Leah. I'd really appreciate it. I have to admit I'm a little scared. I don't know if I'd want Edward there though. I don't want to accidently attack him or something."

"Bella, we've told you tons of times, you won't hurt him. Your imprinting is much too strong for that."

"I'd just rather not take any chances, Leah."

"I understand Bella. I'm sure I'd feel the same way if I was imprinted. And you're correct in believing that accidents can happen. Sam had an unfortunate accident with Emily. She was too close to him when he lost his temper and shifted. You'll see what I mean when you meet her."

I looked at her in surprise because I hadn't said anything out loud about accidents happening. Then I realized that now that I was completely able to shift, I was connected to the pack mentally as well. Oh, this was going to be so much worse than being in a house with a bunch of vampires with super hearing. I sighed loudly and Edward turned to me with instant concern.

"You okay?" he asked as Leah started laughing.

"Yeah. I was just thinking that even more of my privacy just flew out of the window. I'm connected to the pack now."

He chuckled and gave me a quick kiss. "I guess they're just going to have to learn to deal with it."

Leah and I made plans to get together later in the morning as she and Billy left the room. I snuggled down in the bed close to Edward wishing that we were somewhere else where I could follow the instincts that were coursing through my body. I suddenly wanted Edward very badly but we couldn't while here in Billy's house. I nuzzled my nose into his neck and closed my eyes. I felt him jump suddenly and I looked up to see him gazing at me with wide eyes.

"What the hell was that?"

"What?"

"Well, er .. I just got this picture in my head of us making love from your point of view. It was really hot by the way but how the hell did that happen?"

I started to laugh. "That's exactly what happened to me the other morning! That's why I had lunch with Leah. It's a connection we have from our imprinting from what she told me."

"Okay. Well, that could make our sex life pretty interesting."

He put his arms back around me and I closed my eyes again. I took a deep breath of his scent and relaxed against his body.

"Yeah, it's going to be very interesting. I can't wait to test it out."

I heard his chuckle through his chest as I drifted off to sleep.

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2973 words

Posted December 3, 2009


	36. My Little Wolf, Chapter 35

Disclaimer: Characters and Twilight belong to S. Meyers. Twists, turns and new characters belong to me.

Summary – What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

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**Another update! All the new readers and reviewers inspired me. Hope you enjoy the new chapter. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, but I was in Vancouver twice at the beginning of Dec to see Sam Bradley and Marcus Foster (his first ever Canadian Show! WOOT! ) . If you haven't seen them live yet, go see them. Totally awesome singer/songwriters!**

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**Chapter 35 – My Little Wolf**

**Edward's POV**

I held Bella tightly to my body as she once again drifted off to sleep. The last few hours had been the hardest I'd ever been through. It tore me apart to see her in so much pain. All I had wanted to do was take that pain away from her.

I looked down at her and tried to imagine her as a wolf. What was she going to look like? Did they all look similar to what they do in their human form? It was going to be very interesting to see what happens tomorrow.

As soon as Bella was back asleep, I called Alice to let her know that the process was complete. She had figured as much because as soon as it happened, Bella went off of her radar. She wasn't even getting the flashes like she had before when she was in Arizona.

I knew that Bella didn't want me near when she and Leah did the lessons in shifting but I wasn't going to be far away. The protective feelings I'd had from almost the beginning were becoming more and more pronounced. It had been a good thing that the pack had "allowed" me to be with Bella when I brought her out to La Push. If not, I would've had to just keep her at our house and deal with it ourselves. I couldn't have taken being away from her during at that time.

This imprinting was amazing. I was getting used to these flashes of pictures in my head that were coming from Bella. It didn't help my libido at the moment but it was really remarkable. For so many years I'd had others thoughts in my head but to have the visions that went through someone's mind blew me away.

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about seeing her shift into her inner wolf. After all, the wolves were supposed to be our natural enemies. Was the imprinting going to overcome my natural instinct to avoid the shape-shifters? They were positive that our imprinting would over rule the natural instinct that she would have to kill a vampire. All I could think at this point was that it was going to be an extremely interesting day.

Bella slept for a few more hours. It was about 9am when she finally started to stir in my arms. Her body temperature was still higher than average but not as high as it had been yesterday.

Bella stretched and moaned, turning her head towards, her eyes filling with smouldering lust. Rolling her body towards me, she reached her hand behind my head and pulled me into a deep, passionate kiss. I groaned at the taste of her and felt myself get hard instantly. What this girl could do to me with one kiss was beyond words.

A knock at the door startled us, causing us to jump apart so suddenly that I almost fell off the bed. We laughed a little and I called at the person to enter. It was Leah that popped her head into the door.

"Are you ready to get started Bella?"

Bella groaned and looked over at Leah. "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

I laughed at her. "It'll be fine Bella. Go learn to embrace your inner wolf."

She rolled out of the bed and I reached over to give her ass a smack. She turned to me with a sexy smile and informed me that I shouldn't start things we didn't have time to finish. I just smirked at her.

I watched as she changed into the clothes that Alice had hurriedly thrown into a bag and left at the edge of the reservation for one of the pack to pick up, thinking I would rather be seeing her take her clothes off than put them on. Sighing, I got up from the bed and walked over to her. Taking her in my arms, I kissed her softly and leaned my forehead against hers, looking into her eyes.

She looked back at me with a very serious expression. "You are to stay in the house Edward! I don't want you outside with me. If anything were to happen to you, I don't think I could survive nor do I think I'd want to."

"Alright Bella. I promise to stay inside the house." I hugged her to me one more time and let her go to join Leah. I followed them out to the living room and said good morning to Billy and the rest of the pack that had come over for breakfast. Apparently either one of the parents or one of the imprinted wives would make the meals for the ravenous pack each day. I wouldn't want that food bill even with my bank account, I thought with a laugh.

I watched as the pack greeted Bella enthusiastically including the other Halfling Jared. His thoughts were now more wishful thinking than full on pornographic these days. He seemed to be saving those thoughts for someone else which I was grateful for. I don't think my host would appreciate my killing a guest in his house and I'm sure Bella wouldn't approve either.

The girls went out the kitchen door to the back yard and I could hear Leah's thoughts while she explained how the shifting worked for her. I could see Bella was doubtful whether she could actually do something so foreign to herself but she seemed willing to give it a shot. The males were talking among themselves, actually placing bets on how long they thought it would take her to take on her wolf form. Apparently Jacob was the only one that was able to do it on the fly so to speak. It was a talent that could certainly come in handy.

The kitchen area was getting a little crowded and the smell of dog was starting to become overpowering but I wasn't going leave the only vantage point I had to keep an eye on her. Jacob seemed to be studying Leah quite closely as he stood beside me at the kitchen window.

The pack didn't really talk to me which was fine. I was there for my love, not to make friends. Although I guess I should make the effort since Bella was one of them now. I was just grateful to Leah that her attitude towards me was friendly. Bella needed the support of a pack member to get comfortable with the changes in her life. I would always be there for her but there was going to be some things that I would have no idea about.

I watched as Leah took Bella by the hand and led her away from the house towards the woods near some picnic tables. She went about 100 yards and stopped turning to Bella with a smile. Leah spoke for a few minutes; I could hear in my mind her words.

"Alright Bella, you ready?"

I could see Bella nod.

"Okay. Simply put, in the beginning, all you have to do is to envision the wolf and become it. After a while, you won't have to think about it, you'll just shift. It's sort of like calling your inner wolf out. It's really hard to explain to someone that hasn't really grown up with our legends and beliefs. This is one of the reasons I wish that those descended from the Quileute wouldn't move away from the tribe and pretend that this can't happen to their children. It makes it so much harder on them."

I never even thought of how difficult this transition was going to be for Bella beyond the physical pain. She had to now psychologically change as well. Drawing out her "inner wolf" sounded easy enough but given how difficult she could make things, I was beginning to think that Leah had her work cut out for her. Bella could get very frustrated if she didn't get something right the first time.

Bella seemed to indicate that she understood the process and I could see her take a big breath. The boys in the room were laughing and joking around. One of the younger ones proposed a bet on how long it would take Bella to actually shift. The bets ranged from minutes to hours.

Bella seemed to be concentrating with an intensity I hadn't seen in anyone before. Not even Jasper when he was trying to not attack a human. She scrunched up her face and her body was tense. I could see it wasn't working.

I heard Leah's thoughts at that moment. "Do you want me to show you how I shift? Now keep in mind, I've been doing it for a few weeks now so I have an easier time of it."

Bella nodded and I watched as one moment Leah was standing there and the next her body seemed to explode and a wolf stood in her place. Now this was not an ordinary wolf, she was a wolf of massive size; more resembling a small furry horse than a canid.

I saw Bella's eyes grow huge at the sight of Leah's wolf form, and then a huge grin came upon her face. Leah shifted back and grabbed the robe that was sitting on the table near them and turned back to Bella again.

The pack and I watched for hours as Leah went through the process with Bella over and over again. There seemed to be more giggling than anything going on between the two girls during that time. Leah's thoughts were pretty amusing as she tried to get Bella to take what they were trying to do seriously.

The boys were actually getting a little impatient for the show to get going and the bet to be won. I was fine with Bella taking this new experience at her own pace. Jared started grumbling that it wasn't fair that she was already ready to shift. Apparently he was of closer descent than Bella and felt that his transformation should have been completed before hers. I guess he didn't have any vampires to hang around with and accelerate the process, I thought with a snicker. If only he knew.

It was getting close to dusk and I could see that Bella was getting more and more frustrated with herself and angry at the whole process. The boys had gotten bored and had dispersed around the reservation and to start their patrolling of the area.

I was just about to open the door to go out to her when all of a sudden, I felt a change. A shiver went down my spine and I walked back towards the window to look outside. There, in the place where my beautiful Bella had stood, was a very large gorgeous female wolf. Her undercoat was a cream colour while her overcoat was a deep mahogany. The colours in between her two coats ranged from gold to a deep brown. The guard hairs along her back were pitch black.

I heard Billy, Jacob and Jared all gasp behind me. They must have felt the change in Bella when it happened. Leah was bouncing up and down, reminding me a little of super-hyper Alice in a way. She kept repeating "You did it Bella!" over and over again.

The beautiful animal that was my beloved started bouncing up and down on all four paws and spinning around in a joyous dance. She was a sight to behold. In the blink of an eye, Bella changed back to human form still dancing with happiness as she grabbed the other robe on the table.

She turned towards the house suddenly, her face full of need. I was at the door and outside before she could start heading to me. I was next to her in the next moment, drawing her into my arms.

"Did you see Edward! I did it!"

"I saw, my love. You make a very beautiful wolf too."

She hid her face in my shoulder, blushing bright red. "Thank you."

I put my thumb under her chin to draw her face up to mine. After kissing her gently, I leaned away and smiled at her.

"Have you finished playing for today? Alice is getting very anxious to see you. She's been burning up my cell phone with messages for the past 3 hours."

She looked back at Leah who was slowly walking towards us before turning back to look at me. "Yeah. I think I've had enough for today."

Leah reached us nodding her head. "She's worked hard today Edward. You can take her home. Bella, do you want to do this again tomorrow?"

"I guess I should. Edward will be happy to bring me out here tomorrow after school. I'm sure he won't let anyone else do it." She said this with a smile at me.

"You're darn right you won't be coming out here with anyone else. Not as long as Victoria and James are out there planning who knows what."

We said good bye to Jake, Billy, Jared and Leah and left with the promise to be out here around 4ish the next afternoon and headed back to the Cullen's house. Bella appeared to be very happy to see Alice and the rest of the family.

Emmett of course grabbed her in a huge bearish hug. "Bella! How's our little wolf girl! Hey, you don't smell like the others do! No doggie smell! Hey Eddie, so when you and Bella here have babies, are they going to be a litter of puppies?"

Rosalie slapped him up the back of the head before I had the chance to reach him. I was surprised to hear Bella laugh out loud against his shoulder.

"That's a pretty interesting question there Em!" She said while still chortling. Turning to me, she quirked her brow, "So what do you think Edward, are you ready to raise a litter?"

I didn't have a chance to answer before Carlisle's voice came from behind me. "Bella, how are you feeling?"

She turned towards him with a huge smile. "I'm a little tired at the moment. It seems to take a lot out of a girl to bring out her inner wolf."

Carlisle laughed with the rest of them. I was happy to see Bella in such high spirits after the gruelling day she'd had with Leah. I knew she should be off her feet with exhaustion and I was sure she was putting up a good front for the family.

I put my arm around her waist and drew her to my side. I knew then that I was right when she eased her head down onto my shoulder and nuzzled my neck, her body shivering slightly.

"Carlisle, can Bella discuss this all later? I think I'll take her up for a rest before she falls down."

"I'm fine Edward."

"Love, you aren't fine. You're exhausted. I need you to take care of yourself while you learn how to do this shifting stuff. Please?"

"Okay, I guess you're right. I could use a bit of a rest. Carlisle, can we meet in your study later? I can answer all your questions then."

"Absolutely Bella! Have a good nap."

As we headed up the stairs to my room, I could hear thoughts Alice behind me. _Edward, we have to talk soon. It's about James._ I turned my head slightly and nodded indicating that I'd heard her but whatever she knew about James could wait until I spent some time with Bella.

I got Bella upstairs without any further interruptions and got her comfortable and in bed. She instinctually turned to wrap herself around me as I lay down beside her. I inhaled her unique scent and wished for once that I could sleep myself so I could share this time with her completely. As it was, I just laid there with my eyes closed, holding her in my arms and listening to the beat of her heart.

I'd waited a very long time for her and even after such a short amount of time, I knew that my existence would be futile if she wasn't in my life. Whatever happened now, Bella and my lifelines were irrevocably linked forever and I truly wouldn't have it any other way.

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**Thanks for reading my story. Reviews make me very happy .. j/s :-)**

**I will try to update again this week but won't guarantee it. Long shifts due to the holidays ..**

Feel free to Twitter me at mahika or http://www (dot) twitter (dot) com / mahika

2786 words.

Updated Dec 21, 2009


	37. Learning & Pondering, Chapter 36

**Disclaimer:** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary – What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

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**An update! WOOT! Sorry I didn't get it done before Christmas but managed to find time at 1am today. LOL Hope you enjoy the chapter. Let me know. **

**I don't have my stories planned out a head of time. I let the characters tell their story, so I'm always interested in your opinions of the way its going. If you have suggestions, I can always discuss it with the characters and see what they think LOL. **

**Hope you all are having a great holidays and I will try to put up another chapter this week. **

**Marie**

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**Chapter 36 – Learning and Pondering**

**Bella's POV**

I was over the moon that I'd managed to actually shift into my inner wolf. It had taken all freaking day but I did it. I was beyond excited and totally exhausted at the same time. As we drove, I remembered the dream I'd had the night after I'd talked to Billy the first time of me running through the woods as a white wolf. I laughed softly; guess my dreams weren't going to match my reality in that way. I wondered if the person I was so desperate to reach in that dream was Edward. I'd like to think so.

Once Edward got me back to the Cullen's house, I got more and more exhausted from my day. We walked in the door to be assaulted by Emmett's sense of humour and Carlisle's curiosity. Emmett's puppy joke was actually pretty funny, especially when I saw the look on Edward's face when Emmett said it. Even though Emmett wasn't serious, it was quite the question. Now that Edward and I were imprinted in the wolf way and apparently "mated" in the vampire way, it was certainly something that we should think about.

What would happen if I got pregnant? I was on birth control, had been for years due to a wonky menstrual cycle but would they work now that I was changed? Would they work the same on my shape-shifter physiology as when I was still completely human? Were Edward and I even compatible in that way? I'd read the stories about Vampires impregnating humans so I knew it could be possible if the stories were true but it might be different with my altered physiology. I was definitely going to have to talk with Carlisle about some of it but I would have to ask Leah about the rest.

I was so glad that Leah was so accepting of the fact that Edward was a part of my life. I knew Billy and Jacob weren't really pleased by the fact that I'd imprinted on a "cold one' but the whole pack knew what imprinting was all about. It wasn't like we had a choice in the matter. I just hoped they didn't continue to give Edward a hard time when he was with me because where I went; he was going to be too.

Edward got me away from Carlisle and we headed up to his room. I thankfully fell into his bed and wrapped myself around him. Sinking into a restful sleep, I was out for the rest of the night. I fleetingly realised that Kate and Tanya were nowhere in sight as we went through the house. I would have to remember to ask what happened with them.

I couldn't believe when I opened my eyes that it was bright daylight and that I appeared to be alone in the bed. From the brightness outside, I was assuming that half of the day was already gone. So much for school today, it was a good thing that I got good grades.

I raised my head to look around and found that Edward was not in the room at all. I was just about to sit up when the bathroom door opened and he came out wearing only a towel. Instantly my body became aware of him. Visions of what I wanted to do to him started flashing through my head. As I watched him walk slowly across the room towards me, his towel falling off with the first stride. The expression on his face became extremely lustful and he moaned as his cock hardened instantly.

"Bella, this vision sharing is really going to be the death of me!"

I giggled a little before reaching my hands out towards him. "At least it decreases the amount of foreplay needed."

He snickered in response as he leaned over the bed to kiss me passionately. "It certainly does that!"

I pulled him over on top of me and my hands roamed down his back to grab his ass. I was finding that my inner wolf was becoming extremely aggressive when it came to sex with Edward. We hadn't made love for a while and I wanted him in me so bad it actually physically hurt.

His moan vibrated throughout his body and mine responded in kind. He raised himself up enough to rip the sheet from between us and his hands started caressing my breasts. My body arched in response to his touch. His mouth followed the path his hands were taking; my body quivering at each caress.

My hands fisted his hair and he groaned at the feeling; having his hair grabbed and tugged at seemed to turn him on and I was happy to oblige.

My mind kept picturing different things that I wanted and every time I did, Edward would either moan or his body would quiver in reaction; it was becoming a very erotic part of our lovemaking.

"Edward, I can't wait any longer. I need you! It's been too long!"

He moved quickly up my body and was inside me in a flash. I was so wet for him that he slid inside me smoothly and I screamed at the sensation. He held himself still for a moment and kissed me deeply. My arms went around him and my hands grabbed his muscled back. Slowly, sensually, he began to move inside me and I moaned at the feeling. My muscles clenched him tightly inside me and my hands moved down to his ass, urging him to go faster. I knew that I wasn't going to last very long, this was not going to be a slow and easy lovemaking.

"Faster!" I breathed into his ear. "Please, faster!"

His breathing accelerated at my words and his pace increased until we were both moaning and moving in synchronised motion. The feelings inside my body intensified and I knew that I was close to the edge of the precipice to my climax.

"Edward, I'm coming!"

"Let go, Bella! I'm almost there!"

I screamed my release as I felt his climax overtake him, the feeling causing shivers to go through me. We lay there, very still, enjoying the feeling of just holding each other for a few moments before he moved out of me and rolled to my right side. Gathering me into his arms again, he kissed me gently and held me close.

"Can I wake up like that every morning?" I asked, smiling up at him and seeing our love reflected in his eyes.

"Forever. You wish is my command, my love."

I moved my head to kiss his chest and nuzzled my nose into the crook of his neck inhaling his scent. I didn't really want to get up yet. I wanted to spend the whole day just being with him but I knew there were things I had to do. I had to go out and work with Leah again and I should probably phone Charlie. He hadn't actually talked to me since before the final phase of my transformation. I knew that Billy had called and let him know what had gone on the other day but it wasn't the same thing as hearing from me.

I sighed and slowly sat up. Edward looked up at me curiously.

"I need to call Charlie soon and I promised Leah I'd be out at the Rez to practice more with her."

"Right, you should call your Dad. Oh, and Esme called the school to let them know we weren't going to be there today. She said we had the flu. The school didn't question it considering how bad you looked the other day."

"Okay, well that will work. I wasn't really looking forward to going to school today anyway. So, what do you want to do today until I have to meet Leah?"

"How about we start with a shower?" he said with a smirk. I hopped out of bed to join him with a smile on my face.

A couple of hours later, we finally left Edward's room and headed downstairs. Apparently a horny vampire and an insatiable wolf were hard to get completely satisfied, I giggled to myself. We were worse than Emmett and Rose from I'd heard of their antics.

We noticed the house as extremely quiet as we came down the stairs. Upon reaching the bottom, I veered towards the kitchen. Esme had started buying food for the house once I started hanging around and I was ravenous after the last two days. Edward followed behind and sat down as I started to prepare some food for myself.

"You want something?"

"Nah. I don't have to eat and I'm not sure there will be enough for me too." He laughed as he watched me grabbing things out of the cupboard and fridge. "Esme might have to go shopping again."

I scowled and stuck out my tongue at him. "Hey, I'm a growing wolf! And besides, I exerted a lot of energy this morning."

"Hey, don't make promises you can't keep. If you're going to show off that little tongue of yours, you better follow through!"

I laughed at him, finished making my food and wandered out to the living room with it. After eating, I phoned Charlie at work and let him know that I had gone through the full transformation like Billy had told him and that I was fine. Charlie was more of a "don't want the details" type of guy so I didn't tell him anything beyond that. I told him that I was going to the Rez later but was hanging out at the Cullen's until then, promising to be home this evening to see him.

Edward wasn't really happy to hear me say that I would be going home tonight but I needed to spend time with Charlie too. We hadn't heard anything on James or Victoria since hearing about the missing hikers. It made Edward extremely agitated to not know what was happening. They weren't close enough for him to read their thoughts and Alice hadn't been able to get a fix on them either. It was all extremely frustrating.

The week continued along that path. I went to the Rez to practice with Leah after school each day; spending some of the evenings at home with Charlie and some with the Cullen's. The atmosphere at the house was getting a little tense as we all waited for the other shoe to drop and James to come after me.

As my sessions with Leah progressed, I felt myself becoming more comfortable and confident with my wolf side. I could change pretty quickly now, almost as fast as Jacob could. Jacob seemed to be hanging around our sessions more and more lately. I watched as he and Leah went through a cat and mouse dance around each other. I could feel the emotions between them and wondered how long she was going to make him wait before she relented. Edward thought it was hilarious to watch.

Cuddling in bed with Edward after another sensational lovemaking session my mind wandered over everything that had been happening over the past week or so. Jacob and Leah, Tanya, Caleb and Fae, James. They all affected our lives these days in one way or another.

Edward hadn't really gotten along well with Jacob from the beginning, always believing that Jacob had designs on me. Granted, I knew that Jacob was thinking along those lines when we corresponded while I was still in Phoenix, but I never encouraged it. I was actually relieved to see him showing an interest in Leah. I just hoped that this was an imprinting for them so no one got hurt. I was so happy with Edward, besides the whole Tanya and James thing; I wanted everyone else to feel the same as we did.

As my thoughts brought Tanya reluctantly to mind, I realized I never did ask where they had taken off to. Were they going to come back or had they gone back to Alaska? I was hoping it was the latter. No one had mentioned them for a while so they must have left while Edward and I were at La Push the final night of my change. It was probably a good move on Tanya's part though. I might not have been able to control myself when we got to the house the next night and I wasn't sure how Carlisle and Esme would feel if I killed someone that they have considered a part of their family for so long. But I knew if she pulled any shit with Edward in the future, all bets were off and that bitch would be mine.

I was also happy to see over the last couple of weeks that Caleb seemed to be enamoured with Fae. She was such a sweet girl, almost faery-like in appearance. She was the perfect match for Caleb who still seemed a little unsure of himself and his inner wolf. She was a confident, strong woman and I knew they would be happy together. I was pretty sure they'd already imprinted even though he seemed hesitant to bring her around the pack and they kept to themselves at school. I'd have to take the time to say something to Fae one day.

There was still no word on James and Victoria. I wasn't too worried about them anymore really. I was stronger now that I'd changed and with Leah and the rest of the pack's help, I was becoming adept at fending for myself. I knew Edward still worried but I knew I could handle anything they could through at us. I'd been careful not to shift anywhere but on La Push so the two of them wouldn't find out about my abilities. We all figured it would make for a nice surprise for them when they did try something. I was hoping that they would just give up and go away but knew that my hopes weren't reasonable. Edward had seen both of their minds and I knew James' interest in me was more than just as a tracker. He wanted me and there was no way in hell I was going to let him have me. I belonged to Edward and no one would ever get that close to me besides him.

I sighed and felt Edward's arms pull me closer.

"Everything okay Bella?"

"Yes, luv. I was just thinking about everything that has happened over the last few weeks and all the people that have affected us in one way or another."

"Get some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day for you according to Leah. Oh and did she tell you that Caleb has finally completed his transformation? The pack was talking about it while you were with her yesterday. Apparently he is still a little annoyed that you finished changing first but is over the moon now that his is done. He'll be working with Jacob for a while."

"Oh that is awesome! Hey, I wonder when Jacob is going to take over the pack from Sam? I know that he's actually the direct descendant that's supposed to be the Alpha of the pack. I overhead Billy talking with one of the other elders at the potlatch I went to a while ago. It'll be interesting to see what happens with that."

"Yes. It will be. As a direct descendant of the original Alpha, he is the only one allowed to make changes to the treaty between our family and the pack. When everything is sorted, we may have to talk to him about it."

I yawned as he was talking and he smiled down at me. "Bella, go to sleep now."

I felt him kiss my forehead as my eyes drooped down and a nestled my head against his chest. He was right, tomorrow as going to be a long day and I needed a lot more sleep nowadays.

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Thanks for reading my story.

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2774 words.

Updated Dec 28, 2009


	38. Final Training, Chapter 37

**Disclaimer:** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Summary – What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

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**Sorry this one took a while to get updated. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for reading!**

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**Chapter 37 – Final Training **

**Edward's POV**

My favourite pastime was watching Bella sleep. It was something I don't think I'd ever get tired of; especially when she dreamed and talked in her sleep. It was quite fascinating.

I could hear the words puppy and Edward while she muttered to herself. I listened, wondering if she was thinking of Emmett's feeble attempt at a joke when we got home from the Black's house. I hope she wasn't worrying over it. I never expected to have someone in my life like her so children were never an option to me. Ever.

The days had fallen into a pattern with us. School, Bella's training with the pack, spending time together as much as possible. As dawn approached, I knew I would have to awaken her soon. She needed to get ready to go to La Push and finish her training. James and Victoria were going to have quite the surprise now if they decided to go after her. She was strong enough to take on any vampire now. It was rather strange to be with her now that she no longer needed my protection but it put our relationship on a more even keel. She hadn't really changed much since she'd completely transformed into her shape-shifting physiology. She still hated any attention. The trainings were sometimes hard for her because the rest of the pack liked to watch. I think the whole losing clothing thing was the worst for her. Above all, Bella tended to be a very private person and she had taken to "changing" in the woods where everyone couldn't see her. I won't say that it bothered me any. I'd rather her body not be exposed to the scrutiny of the male wolves. My possessiveness had not calmed down at all. It was all I could do to not attack some of the silly boys at school when they looked at her. Since her final change, she seemed to be more attractive to the males in town, wolves and humans alike.

I glanced over at the clock, noticing that it was time to rouse her. She needed more sleep these days and it was getting difficult to wake her up. I leaned down and kissed her behind her ear, moving along her jaw to her lips. I nibbled softly as I felt her start to stir and she moaned as I deepened our kiss. Her arms moved slowly up to embrace my neck and draw me down to her.

"Bella, we don't have time Luv. You've got to get to La Push. Caleb is joining the training today remember?"

"Oh Crap! I don't want to go! That boy is annoying now that he is so besotted with Fae. I mean. Gah. We could never have been that sappy!"

I laughed as she tried to hide under the covers of the bed. I gently pulled them away from her and kissed her again.

"Up and at 'em Bella. Let's get it over with okay? Then all we have to deal with is James and Victoria, I hope."

She looked up at me with those beautiful chocolate brown eyes of hers and I was at once finding it difficult not to give in and join her back under the covers of the bed.

"That look is not going to work. Come on, let's go."

I finally bribed her downstairs with the promise of a big breakfast. Her appetite for all things had increased greatly, not that I was complaining. As I was preparing her food, the rest of the family started gathering in the kitchen. Emmett looked like he had something to say but was hesitant for some reason. Looking over at him, I raised an eyebrow when our eyes met. Rose was standing next to him, her arms crossed over her chest and giving him "the look", as we liked to call it. I was wondering what was up with her now. She could be such a bitch when she wanted to be.

"What Em?" I asked him.

"Huh?" he looked away and towards Esme who also seemed to be giving him her "look". I'd been on the end of that look a time or two and wondered what he'd done to earn it this time from both of them. Esme was a force to be reckoned with when she was mad at you for any reason. "Uhm, oh. Yeah. I. Ah. Wanted to apologize for what I said about you and Bella." He finally spit out what he had to say while looking down at his shoes.

I looked at him confused. What was he apologizing for? I heard Bella start to snicker behind me.

"Em, its okay. I wasn't offended. I thought it was quite funny myself." She said with a snicker.

I laughed. "Oh the puppy joke. I wasn't offended either Em. It was actually something that should be addressed given that Bella can get pregnant while others I've been with could not." I looked over at Carlisle. From the corner of my eye I saw Bella grimace at the mention of others. I knew she was thinking of Tanya and I didn't know what to say to her about it. I couldn't change my past but given the crap Tanya had pulled during her visit here, I couldn't really blame her for feeling that way.

He nodded at me. "That's a good point Edward."

"Carlisle, I was actually going to see you about that very subject." I heard Bella say rather quietly.

Carlisle didn't look surprised by the request. "Anytime Bella. Just let me know when you want to talk."

"I just want to talk to Leah about a few things first, then I'd like to talk with you." She was avoiding looking at me while she talked to Carlisle. I was beginning to wonder just how long she'd been thinking about this and if there was a reason for the sudden interest in the subject.

We said good bye to everyone and headed out to La Push Reservation. I wasn't surprised to see the whole pack out at the Black's house for Bella's final training day. I was surprised to see Fae already there, looking like an ethereal faerie. There was something about that girl that I just couldn't put my finger on. It was almost like she wasn't really of this world. Since Caleb lived with the Black's, he was pretty much running with the rest of the pack all the time and went through their training sessions a lot faster than Bella had.

She quickly kissed me and headed to the back of the house to join the pack members already there. I went to the kitchen as always to watch Bella through the window. She was even more anxious about me being there with the whole pack involved but there wasn't a hope in hell that I was letting her come out here alone. It actually physically hurt to be away from her. The night she spent at home with Charlie during this past week had just about killed me even though we were only apart for a few hours. As soon as I knew Charlie had headed to bed, I was over there and through her window. The relief I felt once back within arms reach of Bella was alarming. It was like she was an integral part of my soul.

The day went by fairly fast and before I knew it, Bella was done and we were hanging around the Black's kitchen. I knew Bella would be famished after the day and the wives of the pack had put out a huge spread for the end of the day. It was sort of a celebration, I guess. I can't say I was exactly comfortable being in this house but I also knew that Bella was trying to have a few minutes with Leah and I wasn't going to take an opportunity away from her. I knew the subject matter she wanted to discuss and I had to admit, if only to myself, that I was more interested in the answers to her questions than even she knew.

I knew there were stories among the Vampire lore that hinted at some male vampires becoming incubus and impregnating humans. Of course, the lore also said that none of the female humans survived because of the fast growth and strength of the fetus. I would never endanger Bella's life like that. If something happened to her because of me, I would never be able to live with myself and I wouldn't. It isn't easy for one of us to die but I would find a way. The Volturri were perhaps an option. Bella would kill me herself if she found out I thought this way but I honestly didn't think I could go on without her.

Shaking my head to chase away the morbid thoughts running through it, I watched as Bella approached Leah and talked softly to her. Even though my hearing was almost bat-like, I had to strain to her what she was saying.

Leah led the way through the house and outside the front door as I watched. Bella suddenly turned and her eyes met mine. I nodded to let her know that I'd seen what was going on and that'd just wait for her. It was amazing to me how we could communicate so much with just a look between us.

As Bella left the house with Leah, I noticed Jacob watching them leave. His head suddenly whipped around to me as if he felt me watching him but the look in his eyes had me convinced that he knew what they were talking about.

They were gone for about 30 minutes or so and when Bella returned to my side her face had a thoughtful look to it. Leah gave me a big smile as she came up to bid my goodbye. We probably wouldn't be seeing as much of each other in the near future as Bella wouldn't be out here daily but I knew she was one of the few that were okay with our relationship and I would always be grateful for her support on Bella's behalf.

With her training complete, Bella was more than equipped to deal with any threat that came our way. I knew that I would always feel extremely protective of her but I would have to try and overcome the urge to step in and take over. She was actually more equipped to deal with the threat of James and Victoria than we were. I laughed to myself. Emmett would not let me live it down if the tables turned and Bella ended up saving my ass.

Bella looked at me curiously as she heard me laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"Well Luv, I was just thinking that with you being a fully trained shape-shifter now, you won't need me to protect you and that you'd probably end up protecting me." I chuckled again. "And Emmett will make me the butt of a lot of jokes in the near future."

She looked at me for a few moments before a huge smile came upon her face. "We'll protect each other Edward, and if Emmett gets too big for his britches, I don't mind taking him down a notch or two either."

Leah laughed along with us and we all envisioned my Bella taking on my hulking brother. Jacob came up behind Leah while giving me a funny look. He bent to whisper something in her ear and she turned around and cuffed him across the head. I wasn't sure who was more surprise, us or him.

"I'm just saying Leah!" he whined while grabbing his ear.

"That wasn't nice at all Jacob. Apologize to Bella this instant."

I moved my gaze instantly to Bella's and saw tears forming in her eyes. She looked like someone had just run over her puppy. I realized that because of the pack link, she could hear what Jacob was thinking and what he'd said to Leah.

At that moment, Billy came up to us obviously sensing something was wrong.

"Bella, what's wrong?"

She turned away from him towards me, shaking her head. I put my arm around her waist to draw her near to me.

"Bella, he doesn't know what he's talking about. Don't pay any attention to the mongrel.

"Bella, what ..????"

Billy looked confused as Leah chuckled at my use of the word mongrel but still gave Jacob the same look that Rose and Esme tended to use on Emmett when he was being majorly inappropriate.

Bella moved closer to me and I drew her body against mine, gently kissing her forehead.

Leah jabbed Jacob in the ribs with her elbow hard enough to make him grunt and pointed at Bella while motioning with her head.

"Do it Jacob!" she all but growled at him.

"Bella, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Please forgive me?"

She turned her face up to mine, tears shimmering in her eyes and slowly turned to Jacob, "I thought you were my friend Jacob. Friends don't say things like that about one another. If that's how you really feel, then I guess you weren't really my friend."

Billy was looking more and more confused about the conversation going around him but obviously realized that Jacob had been an ass and said something he should have just kept to himself. He knew a lot of the pack was uncomfortable around me but they had been more than cordial while Bella had trained. Seth had actually followed me around like I was suddenly his best friend. I found him quite an interesting boy and really hadn't minded the company while I watched Bella's training sessions. He'd asked me all sorts of deep questions about my lifestyle and spent a lot of time telling me about the changes he was going through as well. He was a sweet kid and I was going to miss our daily conversations.

Bella looked away from Jacob and softly asked me if we could leave.

"Of course we can. Let's go."

As we walked to the car, I looked back to see Leah standing on the porch with her arms crossed over her chest and Jacob pleading with her to forgive him. I chuckled at the sight, hoping she wouldn't forgive him any time soon.

The drive home was a silent one. Bella seemed to be lost in her thoughts. For the umpteenth time, I wished I was able to read her thoughts. I couldn't quite gauge her mood.

As we pulled up to the house, she turned to me. "Edward, I'm going to see if Carlisle is free to talk with me when we go inside."

"Do you want me to be there?"

She looked at me hesitantly as if afraid to hurt my feelings, "Uhm, actually do you mind if I talk with him alone first?"

"No I don't mind. I know you'll let me know what's going on when you're ready."

She leaned over to kiss me, "Thank you." She got out of the car with another mysterious smile on her face. That smile was really starting to bother me.

As we walked up to the door, Alice came bouncing out of it squealing and grabbed Bella into a hug, dancing her around the entrance. She was reciting the hockey teams of North America over and over again to keep me from reading her thoughts. The only good sign of what was going on was that the girls were smiling so I knew that Bella wasn't hiding something bad. I'd really just have to be really patient and let her tell me what's going on in her own time. Patience, however, wasn't my strong suit.

Bella disappeared into Carlisle's office with him for about an hour, coming out with a secretive smile on her face. Carlisle followed looking kind of stunned. I felt Bella's hand grab mine as she reached me and she dragged me outside so quickly, I didn't even have a chance to hear what Carlisle was thinking.

"Let's go to the meadow Edward. I want to be alone with you."

We headed off in Emmett's jeep since he wasn't using it but when we arrived at our destination, I got a strange feeling that we weren't alone. Someone had been coming here quite frequently. As we got out of the jeep, the scent of the other one was very strong and vey unsettling.

"Bella, someone's been here and might still be here." I kept my voice low while pulling her close to my side.

"Who?"

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hmm.. now what has Bella been talking to Leah and Carlisle about? You might have already guessed but why is Alice so excited and why does Bella have the mysterious smile? And who's been hanging around the meadow?

Feel free to follow me on Twitter at mahika or http://www (dot) twitter (dot) com / mahika

2884 words.

Updated Jan 8, 2009


	39. Surprise! Chapter 38

**Disclaimer:** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

Summary – What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

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I have to tell you all .. Getting a review on this story really inspires me to continue it. Thanks to all of those that send them in!

I hope you enjoy this chapter

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**Chapter 38 – Surprise! Good or Bad?**

**Bella's POV**

Taking a cue from Edward's body language, I moved closer to his side and went still. My news could wait if there was danger here. My hand automatically covered my stomach in an unconscious gesture of protection. Damn those two! Why couldn't we have a few minutes without having to think of anything but ourselves? Was it to much to fucking ask? I could feel the anger brewing inside.

Taking deep, slow breathes, I tried to calm myself. I didn't want to shift and give away a tactical advantage. Edward was still. I could see he was concentrating hard, trying to sense or hear anyone that could be hiding in the trees surrounding our meadow.

"A vampire was here. There are only traces of his scent here but it was James."

I growled. Was it too much to ask that there be one place that was not tainted by those that were after us? Couldn't they let us have one place that was just ours? I was so ready for it all to be done so Edward and I could get on with our lives. I smiled to myself as I envisioned what that all entailed now. I really couldn't wait to tell him my news. I just hoped he was going to be as happy about it as I was.

I felt Edward's arm go around my waist as he pulled me closer to him, trying in vain to comfort me.

"They're not here now. I would hazard a guess that they were here this morning though. They must have followed our scent here."

I sighed. "I just wish that we had one place that they'd not found. This was our special place and now I just don't want to be here anymore."

Edward drew me closer to his body and kissed my neck softly. "I know, Luv. It will be over soon. They are getting closer and braver. They should be making their move soon. Now, you wanted some alone time with me. Do you want to stay here or go somewhere else?"

I hugged him tightly around his waist and raised my head to kiss his jaw, a shiver of reaction running through my body. I could never get enough of being with him. He was my life, the other part of my soul. I stood there for a few moments in his arms, contemplating our options. We could just stay here and I could give him the news now even though the meadow had been slightly tainted in my eyes or we could go somewhere else. My mind wandered through the memories we had made together and I instantly knew where I wanted to tell him. The best memories, besides the meadow, had been at the house. There was a stream that ran through the backyard and we had spent many late evenings just sitting out there talking. I wanted that to be the place I told him my news. A place untainted by our enemy, and an enemy is exactly what James was.

I leaned back to look up into Edward's face and smiled. "Let's go back to the house."

He looked surprised. "I though you wanted alone time?"

"I want to go out to the stream. Everyone will leave us alone."

He looked doubtful since it was unlike any of his family to leave us alone for any length of time, especially Alice.

We headed back to the house and oddly enough, no one was home. I smiled and silently thanked Alice for understanding. She must have seen our change of plans and let everyone know we were heading back to the house. Sometimes it was very handing having the pixie around.

We wandered through the house, stopping briefly in the kitchen while I grabbed something to eat, and headed out the back door. The stream was at the very back of the yard near the forest that covered the majority of the Cullen property. Easing down onto the grassy slope that ran along the water, I sighed with contentment. How much more could my heart hold? I had Edward, the Cullen family, my parents, my friends and now … my hand once again moved unconsciously to my stomach.

Edward sat down beside, looking at me curiously. I knew he was dying to know why I wanted some alone time with him. I was pretty sure this was one of the times that being unable to read my thoughts annoyed the hell out of him. I was almost tempted to draw the suspense out but I knew he'd get me back for that. On the other hand, his revenge was usually quite enjoyable. I laughed softly to myself at the thought of just what that might entail.

I sat looking at the water bubbling over the rocks at the bottom of the stream, trying to compose my thoughts. I didn't want to start stumbling and stuttering as I tried to tell him.

I could tell he was starting to get concerned even though I was smiling slightly as I watched him from the corner of my eye. He held himself completely still but his eyes gave him away.

"Edward."

"Bella?" he whispered, smirking at me.

Knowing he was just trying to relieve the perceived stress that he thought I was feeling, I nudged his shoulder with mine and smiled. Reaching up, I swept my hand through his hair enjoying the almost purr-like sound that came from deep within his throat.

"Bella, don't start something you aren't going to finish."

"Who says I won't finish it, Edward?"

"You're the one that wanted to talk. At least I'm assuming you do since you keep opening your mouth like you want to say something. Do you want to just spit it out or are you going to keep me in suspense for a while longer? Do you know how frustrating it is not to be able to read your mind when you're having trouble telling me something?"

I smirked at him. "I know its frustrating babe. But it makes our life so much more interesting, especially our shared mind snapshots but more about those later."

He snorted at me. SNORTED AT ME! Hold the horses!

I looked over at him wide eyed. "Did you just SNORT at me!?!"

He opened his eyes wide, trying to appear innocent and I burst out laughing, falling over his stretched out legs. I turned around so I was sitting across his lap and threw my arms around him hugging him tightly.

"I love you Edward!" I exclaimed, nuzzling my face into his neck.

He pulled me back, smiled down at me and kissed my nose. "I love you too Bella. You are my very existence."

I could feel myself blush at his words. I really hated the fact that I blushed over everything, but I knew it was one of the things that Edward enjoyed most and something he would never get tired of making me do it.

I looked down for a moment to gather my thoughts again; just touching him could scatter them to the four winds.

I straightened my shoulders, took a deep breath and looked up into his eyes.

"Well, you know the joke that Emmett told the other day?"

He interrupted me, his body tensing, "That didn't upset you did it? He didn't mean anything by it even though Rose and Esme got a little upset about it. You told them it hadn't bothered you."

I put my hand over his mouth. "It didn't bother me and be quiet or I won't be able to get this out."

He relaxed slightly but was still on guard. Nodding his head, he mumbled through my hand that he'd be quiet and let me speak.

"Well, his joke really got me thinking about things. I thought about it that night and realized that I'd been feeling a little odd for the last little while."

He body stiffened even more, concern entering his eyes but he remained silent. I moved my hand up to his cheek, caressing it lightly.

"It's okay Edward. Anyway, as you know, I talked with Leah and Carlisle and we all think that I … "

I stopped and looked at him. How was he going to react? Did he want this? He'd been alone, well except that time with (cough) Tanya, for all his time as a vampire. I felt the rage and jealousy course through me at even the thought of that bitch. I knew he loved me but I also knew he was still getting used to all the emotions that were part of our relationship and dealing with the fact that I was now a shape-shifter, the vampire's mortal enemy. It had all happened in such a short amount of time, that it was a wonder that both of us were still functioning normally. I thanked the Gods for the support of the rest of the family and their belief in our relationship.

"WHAT! Bella, you can't just stop there!" he exclaimed, watching my face for some clue of what was going on with me, gripping my shoulders a little tightly in his panic. "Are you sick? What's wrong with you?!?"

I gasped, not realizing where his thoughts had been going while I was trying to sort out mine. "No babe! I'm not sick! I'm pregnant!"

Crap! I hadn't wanted to just blurt it out like that. I'd wanted to build up to it so as not to freak him out. I knew as soon as the words were out of my mouth that Edward's mind went to the worst case scenario. I really had to work on his pessimistic nature. Granted I knew that this was not going to be easy. Leah and Carlisle had pretty much confirmed that. This was unknown territory for all of us and Edward would be the most stressed out by the situation.

He sat there staring at me like I'd grown another head, his mouth opening and closing but no words escaped. I think if a vampire could actually faint, he'd have been out for the count.

I gently grabbed one of his hands from my waist and brought it forward to cover my stomach, watching his face as I did so. His eyes closed as his hand touched my stomach and I felt the tremor go through his body.

"But how …. ?" he whispered.

Not being able to help myself, I chuckled. His eyes opened and glared at me for a second.

"I'm sorry, babe. I couldn't help it. Well, of course, this hasn't happened before between a shape-shifter and a vampire so we aren't sure how it was able to happen. As you know, it is possible for a vampire to impregnate a human although the human doesn't usually live through it."

His eyes had closed once I started speaking and as I said the last part, he winced and shuddered.

"Carlisle believes that the change in my physiology caused the birth control I was on to stop working. I asked Leah about it but since the pack hasn't had a female shifter in decades, they have no experience with birth control. He also thinks that the changes in my physiology will mean that there won't be a problem with me going through the pregnancy or anything. I'm stronger than a human. We really aren't sure about anything but it will be a learning process for everyone. He doesn't believe that I'll be in any danger, and neither does Leah."

"Bella." His voice sounded rough and forced. He opened his eyes and I saw the fear in them. "We can't. You can't. I can't lose you. We'll take care of it."

My mind couldn't fathom what he was trying to say for a moment. He just kept staring at me, his eyes travelling from mine down to my stomach where his hand was still placed, trembling against me.

As it dawned on me what he was trying to say, my eyes widened in horror. "Edward NO! I am not giving up our child. How could you ask me something like that?!"

He shuddered again. "But Bella. If something happens to you .." He didn't finish the sentence but the emotions on his face pretty much said it all.

"Edward, nothing will happen to me. I have a good feeling about this and Alice has seen that me and the baby will be okay as well."

His hand moved from my stomach to around my waist and he drew me slowly into his arms, almost like he was afraid I was going to break. I giggled at his cautiousness and grabbed him around the neck, settling myself onto his lap.

"Babe, I'm not going to break. We're going to be okay. You should talk to Carlisle, maybe you'll feel better." I stroked my hand through his hair, trying to sooth his worries.

I wasn't sure how long we sat there by the stream, each absorbed in our own thoughts. Mine were all about the baby, as I'm sure Edward's were also. I knew, however, that his were going to a somewhat darker place than mine were. I knew his protective urges would come to the forefront once I broke my news to him but I hadn't thought he would actually broach the subject of getting rid of the baby. I was shocked that he would even think I would consider such an option even though I could understand where he was coming from. He just had to learn that it was not going to happen. I had confidence in Carlisle's medical abilities and Alice's visions to get me through this pregnancy. Everything was going to be fine.

The air started to get a little chilly and I shivered a little causing Edward to instantly spring to his feet with me in his arms. Grabbing the blanket we had grabbed from the house, Edward wrapped it around me and swung me up into his arms. He carefully followed the long path from the stream to the backyard of the house. As we approached the back door, we noticed that lights were on and noise was coming from within. Our family was home and I knew that the news had already been spread to everyone who mattered in the house. Edward refused to put me down and carried me inside.

"Edward, I can walk you know." I ran my hand through his hair, enjoying the soft feel of it. He closed his eyes as I moved my hand caressingly down the side of his face.

"I know. I just .. " he shook his head, unable to finish.

"Babe, it's going to be okay. Take me to the living room, I'm sure Alice and Rose are there and you go talk with Carlisle. I'll wait for you in there."

He nodded, carrying me to the couch and putting me down by Rose who was sitting reading her monthly fashion magazines. She glanced over at me with a weird look on her face, probably wondering what Edward's problem was. I knew that Alice had let everyone know my news after we'd left like I asked her to. It wasn't like I could keep a secret like this from her since she had glimpses of our future. She'd known before I did and had seen that everything was going to be okay. I shook my head slightly at Rose, hoping she wouldn't say anything until Edward had left the room.

I felt his hand caress my cheek as I turned my face up to him. I reached up to grab his face in my hands before he stood up and kissed him deeply.

"Go talk to Carlisle, maybe even talk to Alice."

He nodded silently, gave me a tender kiss and left the room.

Rose turned to me, "What the hell is wrong with him? Isn't he happy about the baby?"

"He's scared, Rose. All he can think of is all the stories he's heard about the women dying once they've been impregnated by a vampire. It's scaring him shitless right now." Even though I was rather perturbed by Edward's lack of trust and belief that I could handle our situation, I wasn't about to let anyone else come down on him for feeling the way he did. We would work it out between us.

I settled back into the couch with the TV remote to wait for Edward, happily caressing my still flat stomach and envisioning what he or she would look like. I hoped that the baby would have Edward's hair and eyes instead of my plain brown colouring. I sighed in contentment and saw Rose's mouth turn up at the corners at the sound. I smirked at her and turned back to the TV to browse through the programming.

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So, as some of you may have surmised from my writing, I don't really go along with SM's version of vampires and shape-shifters (they aren't werewolves LOL). Anyway, Bella's news won't be as dire as SM's version because I don't really believe supernatural beings should be all that incompatible LOL. Just read JR Ward or Gena Showalter, Jacqueline Frank or any of the other supernatural writers out there. What's your opinion on the subject?

Edward's fear stems only from stories he's heard about vampire and human pregnancies and we will have his POV next on the subject .. hope you are enjoying the story.

Posted on January 15, 2010 - 3,014 words


	40. Dealing with the Fear, Chapter 39

**Disclaimer:** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Summary – What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

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**Sorry this one took a while to get updated. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for reading! **

**Well I gaffed in the last chapter .. I had changed scenes and forgot to carry it through. Chapter 38 is fixed.**

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**Chapter 39 –Dealing with the Fear  
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**Edward's POV**

We sat in the backyard by the stream and I couldn't quite comprehend what Bella was telling me. I mean, I understood the words but how the hell did this happen? Okay, yeah. Shut up. I know the mechanics of it, I'm not stupid. But still, how is it that I could actually get Bella PREGNANT. I think if I could've fainted when she broke the news, I would have been at her feet in a second.

I knew that my reaction wasn't what she wanted or needed but I really couldn't control it. The instant that her words registered in my mind; I was instantly filled with mind numbing fear. Bella was pregnant. No. No. No. It couldn't be true.

The only thing that kept running through my mind were the horror stories I'd heard throughout the decades of human women dying from being pregnant with a vampire's spawn. Not that I would ever think of Bella's child as "spawn" but you know what I mean. The moment that the I said we could deal with it, I knew she wouldn't do it. I knew what this child will mean to Bella. All she sees is it as is a culmination of our feelings and commitment to each other. She hasn't heard the stories that I have. I'm sure it wasn't something Carlisle would even think of telling her.

I needed to talk to Carlisle, desperately.

I felt Bella start to shiver and wrapped the blanket I'd grabbed from the house around her. Swinging her up in my arms, I quickly made our way up the path to the house. Noticing that everyone had returned to the house, I carry Bella into the living room where Rose is sitting. She looks up and gives me a knowing look. She knows exactly what is going through my mind and makes it clear that she thinks I'm being an idiot for showing Bella my fear. It wasn't what Bella needed at the moment and although I knew my reaction to her news was upsetting her, I couldn't help it.

I hear Carlisle upstairs in his study so I indicated to Bella that I'm going to go talk with him for a few minutes. I know I really don't deserve the fact that she is being so understanding of my fears. This is supposed to be a very happy event for a couple to be going through. It shouldn't render half the couple rigid with fear but my only thought is of Bella. I couldn't lose her. It would literally kill me. I would have no reason to live if she was no longer in this world. If that seems melodramatic, so be it.

I knocked softly on the door giving Carlisle the head's up that I was there. He called my name out, telling me to enter; almost like he knew I would be seeing him. I shake my head. Of course he knew I'd want to talk to him. He knew me too well.

He smiles brightly at me until he sees the look on my face.

"Oh Edward. Stop being so pessimistic. This is good news for you and Bella."

Surprisingly, my voice doesn't break when I answer him. "Good? How can you say its good news, Carlisle? It's dangerous for her! She could die!"

"Edward, I hate to break it to you but she could die walking across the street. She could die driving down the road. She heals quickly and she is immortal as long as she shifts but if she decides to stop, she could die of old age. I have researched everything I could find on the Quileute bloodlines and with Leah's help, I have gotten more information than I dreamed possible. Bella should be fine but as with any human pregnancy, there is always a risk of something going wrong."

"What do you mean? Leah provided information?"

"Bella had asked me a few weeks ago about what would happen if she got pregnant and when I couldn't offer much information, she asked me to look into it."

I knew my mouth must have been hanging open. I was shocked that she never hinted to me that she was interested in getting information on the subject. Had she already suspected? Why hadn't she told me? Unless she already figured out exactly how I would react and wanted to have Carlisle prepared to give me the information she asked him to find out. My girl was so much smarter than I was sometimes.

I sighed deeply. "Okay. Give me the information you have on it. Convince me that I shouldn't have this gut wrenching fear running through me at just the thought of Bella being pregnant with my child, Carlisle."

He shook his head at me, smiling ruefully as he passed over the folder that was sitting in front of him. I reached for it hesitantly, not really sure if I wanted to know what was written there.

Could I really handle going through this? Could I put my fears aside for Bella? I know she would never understand how deep my fears ran. How deep my feelings for her actually were. I'd waited over a lifetime for her to come into my life and my life was worth less than nothing without her.

As I sat in Carlisle's study reading through the file with him sitting quietly at his desk, I began to see where his optimism was coming from. He hadn't been kidding when he stated he had a lot of information here. There was tons of it on genetics, physiology, history of both shape-shifters and vampires.

When a quiet knock sounded at the door, I looked at the clock and saw that it had been hours since I had come up here. I turned to see Bella tentatively enter the room. My heart wrenched at the look on her face. Now that I'd had time to cipher through the information Carlisle provided and calm down some, I realized exactly just how much I'd hurt her from my reaction.

I sent a small smile in her direction and she gave me a small one back. Giving Carlisle a small wave, she approached the chair next to mine and sat down, her hand automatically going to cover her stomach. I closed my eyes briefly at the sight, opening them to see her looking at me again nervously. Tucking the papers back within the file, I put it down on Carlisle's desk and turned to reach for her hand.

"Its okay, Bella. I'm in a better place than when I came up here. This whole idea still scares the heck out of me but I've read over the material that Carlisle has and as long as we are extremely careful, I think I can hold it together."

She smiled at me. I mean, her happiness literally shone from her eyes. She was happy about this and I was going to do my best to hide my anxiety about the whole thing and be happy with her. Really, it wasn't that I didn't want a child with Bella. It was just that I never dreamed it would ever happen. I had assumed that my days of having children were dead and gone at the time that Carlisle changed me.

She hopped up out of the chair and plunked herself on my lap. Hugging me around my neck and kissing my face repeatedly. I was glad to see I'd made her happy at least. I just hope she lived to make me eat the words of my first knee jerk reaction.

I hugged her tightly. I kissed her gently and then turned back to Carlisle who was watching Bella's actions with a huge smile on his face.

"Carlisle, so what do you think we should expect? Is it going to be more like a human pregnancy or what? Vampire / human pregnancies seem to be accelerated. Will this one also be?"

"Well, like I said before. I don't know. We are going to have to take this as it comes. There has never been a vampire / shape-shifter crossing that we are aware of. We're all in the dark about the exact nature of how it will go. All we have is the theories of how it will be. The good news is that Bella is completely healthy. She has gone through her transformation without any damage to the fetus. Of course, she didn't realize that she was pregnant before hand and there wasn't anything that could have been done to stop it anyway. But nature has its own way to protect the offspring, no matter who the parents are."

I sighed. "Okay. So one day at a time."

I turned towards Bella, "So should we be telling your father? Maybe we should tell him we're engaged when we tell him so he doesn't use his shotgun on me. He might get a bit of a surprise when I don't die."

Bella giggled and then realized what I said. "Married? Really? Er . . I'm not sure about that."

"WHAT?! You're excited about having my offspring but marrying me is another question?"

She giggled again and winked at Carlisle. "I was just kidding! Geez Edward, take a joke will you!"

"Very funny." I hugged her to me to let her know that I could take the joke. She rested her head on my shoulder and hugged me back. I felt her relax as I continued to talk with Carlisle about the pregnancy and what to expect next. He gave me information on what a human usually goes through in the process but we didn't really know what this pregnancy will be like.

I felt Bella drift off to sleep and realized how late it was getting. Standing with her in my arms, I bid Carlisle good night and headed up to my room. Tucking her in, I lay next to her, watching her sleep. I put my hand gently on her stomach, trying to imagine the child that was in there nestled under her heart. A culmination of our love for each other had been created against all the rules and I hoped I was strong enough to get through this with her. She placed her hand over mine as she slept, a smile forming on her beautiful face.

Amazingly enough she slept through the night until morning, waking up ravenous. I kissed her good morning as she headed to the bathroom to shower and get dressed and headed downstairs to make her something to eat. It didn't take long to have it waiting on the table for her as she walked through the door, looking adorable in a blue t-shirt and jeans. I definitely had to buy her more blue clothing. I loved the colour on her.

She wolfed down breakfast and asked what I had planned for today. I hadn't really thought of anything but I had to let her know about the news that Carlisle was called about this morning. Being the Chief of Staff at the hospital meant he was also the head coroner for any suspicious deaths in Forks. Charlie had called him about the death of a factory security guard last night. The rumour was that an animal had attacked but we knew better. James was having some fun in our area it seemed. Not a good thing. We needed to do something about him before his antics were discovered by the Volturri. They enforced the few rules our kind had in existence and killing without caution was something we just didn't do. Our secret must be kept at all times. I, for one, didn't want them coming to Forks and learning about Bella and our child. Carlisle had spent some time with them many decades ago and knew that they weren't one to take it in stride that I'd fallen in love with a shape-shifter and an offspring was in the making.

She didn't really react to the news. It was like she was expecting it or maybe just resigned to knowing that he was coming sooner or later. I knew we'd have to co-ordinate with the pack soon.

"Maybe we should pop out to La Push and let them know about the kill. I'm assuming that Leah does know our news?"

"Yeah, she kinda guessed by herself and I couldn't lie to her. She's been so good to both of us throughout all of this. She's really gone to bat for us in front of the council."

I nodded. I assumed that Leah would know and I knew that she wouldn't tell anyone else until we were ready to share the news. I didn't want the information out there until after we'd dealt with James and Victoria though. The less they knew the better and we didn't know where they were hanging out or what they could hear from the humans in Forks.

"Okay. But let's keep it family and Leah only for now. I don't want James finding out about it. It makes you more of a challenge to him since he will know that I'm the father."

Her eyes got large and dialled slightly, her hand reached up to cover her mouth. "Oh gods! I didn't even think of that! He wouldn't really hurt the baby would he?"

"Baby, that vampire is a stone cold killer, absolutely no pun intended. He will have no qualms about killing both you and the baby."

She shuddered and I walked over to take her in my arms, "As the gods are my witness, Bella, no one will harm either of you. I love you both." Surprisingly, I meant that. I was actually getting used to the idea that she was carrying my child and my protective instincts were kicking into high gear. Even more fiercely than what I felt about Bella.

She leaned against me and put her arm around my waist. "I know you will Edward. I'm not completely helpless myself either. I know how to fight but I worry that I will be rendered useless because I'll be thinking about the baby instead of taking out James."

"I hope it doesn't come to that Bella. I don't even want to think of you in a fight with him."

Bella called Leah to see if the council was available and we headed over to La Push. Everyone was at the Black's house and we quickly relayed the information we had about James and the attack on the security guard, which wasn't really a lot.

Leah whispered congratulations in my ear while Bella talked with the others in the room and I gave her a small smile in return. I whispered back that we were keeping it quiet until after the threat of James and Victoria was dealt with and she nodded in agreement.

Bella called my name and I nodded to Leah as I walked over to her side.

"Edward, what are the chances of amending the treaty to enable the pack to protect not only La Push but also Forks as well. The council has agreed if it's okay with the family too. It makes sense since I am part of both families now." She grinned up at me and I think I would do anything in the world if it meant she kept that smile on her face.

"I can talk with Carlisle but I don't see any problems with it. It only makes sense to have as much of this area covered as possible. Just give us a schedule and we will do the same. That way we won't overlap and cross each other's paths. It's too bad we didn't think of it sooner, the security guard might not have had to meet up with James last night."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Bella was bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet and I fleetingly wondered if it was something she was learning from Alice. I smiled down at her, taking the hand that she kept caressing her stomach with and bringing it up to my lips. She hadn't even realized she was doing it.

We left La Push and headed to the hospital to see Carlisle. Carlisle had mentioned some vitamins that would help with the development of the baby but I didn't think it would be a good idea to get them in Forks. We'd have to plan a day trip to Seattle to get what was needed.

As I thought, Carlisle was 100% behind the idea of the pack patrolling not only La Push but the rest of Forks as well. By making sure none of them were alone, there was a better chance of putting an end to James. No matter how good of a hunter he was or how strong, he was no match for a few shape-shifters attacking together.

I made a quick call to Billy to let him know that Carlisle was in agreement and made plans to pop back out to La Push to co-ordinate our efforts. We had a common goal at the moment, to rid the area of James and his mate.

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Sorry for the long delay in getting this chapter up. I went through a lot of health crap in the past two weeks which I hope is behind me for a while.

Updates will be done sooner, I hope, but will either be first thing in the morning if I can get to work early enough or after the end of my shift. The "boss" has decided that we are no longer allowed to use our laptops during our shifts and no access to the net at all so I will get them up as quickly as possible. I am aiming to post updates on Mondays and Fridays.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter at mahika or http://www (dot) twitter (dot) com / mahika

3,103 words.

Updated February 1, 2010


	41. Emotions, Chapter 40

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

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**Happy Reading Everyone!**

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Chapter 40 - Emotions

**Bella's POV**

We spent the day going back and forth to La Push organising a schedule between the Cullens and the wolf pack for patrolling the area. I was relieved that both of my families were willing to work with each other to protect the town from James and Victoria. The pack was going to start tonight and we, I always considered myself more a part of Edward's family than the pack, would join them in the patrol schedule the next day. Some of the younger or more recent shape-shifters had agreed to actually team up with the Cullens and work in tandem. I'd be with Edward at all times.

Billy was going to bring my Dad into the loop but avoid mentioning Vampires in the story. He was still having issues that my Mom had been right and that I was one of the ones that changed and wasn't very forgiving of himself for making her bring me to Forks the first little while after she had left with me. He figured it was because of that that I had changed. Once the threat of James and Victoria were done with, I had to sit him down and explain that from everything that Carlisle and Leah had discovered, it was something in my blood and physiology that would have happened no matter where we were.

I found myself unconsciously resting my hand over my stomach many times throughout the day. Edward would always smile when he caught me at it. I was so relieved that whatever Carlisle had showed Edward had somewhat relieved his mind about the pregnancy; either that, or he was really good at faking it. In the meantime, I could pretend that he was happy about the baby for now.

I was also hoping that James and Victoria would stop the cat and mouse game. A kill here, a kill there. It was almost like they were enjoying their game too much to actually come after me like Edward had heard in James' thoughts that day. So much for being the all mighty tracker, I was right here, waiting. I meant what I said to Edward about taking care of myself. I knew I could after all the training. But I also meant it when I told him I was afraid that I would be thinking more about the baby than doing what I had to. I knew James would be a vicious fighter and even though I wouldn't back away from a fight, I was starting to wish one of the others would come upon them before they came face to face with me.

It still amazed me how much my life had changed in just a few month. Had it only been a few months? I had moved from Phoenix, changed into a shape-shifter, mated or imprinted depending on your point of view and am being hunted by a vicious vampire. I couldn't imagine my life now without my new friends and family. I caressed my stomach as these thoughts went through me. The child inside me was a miracle. Edward's and mine. I will cherish this child to the end of my days. I smiled as I realised it was another piece of news that I had to share with Charlie. I just hoped he didn't have a heart attack.

We ended up back at the house and I headed straight for the kitchen. I was beyond tired but my ravenous stomach won the battle. Afterwards, I let Edward take me upstairs where upon I passed out completely as soon as my head hit the pillow.

The days passed fairly fast through the rest of the week and before I knew it, the weekend was upon us again. There had been no more incidents of mysterious deaths, mysterious at least to the general populace of Forks. We all knew what was going on of course. I'd gotten more and more ravenous and tired throughout the week and my "baby bump" as Emmett had decided to call my stomach was growing quite big. Apparently crossing a vampire and a shape-shifter made for a more accelerated growth rate for the baby.

Of course, that only made Edward worry but so far everything was just fine. X-rays showed a normal fetus and we were both healthy. Carlisle took blood tests every few days and harped on me about eating right. It was actually quite humorous to see a bunch of grown Vampires fretting and worrying over me. Making sure that there was tons of "healthy" food in the house for me which of course was nothing that I was craving. They couldn't understand why I turned my nose up at "healthy" and instead wanted ice cream and pickles. I also craved sour candies, which was really weird because I couldn't stand them normally. Everyone just shuddered when I threw a bunch in my mouth and I, of course, had to rub it in by making the appropriate appreciative sounds over the taste.

I loved it.

Edward was the ever-doting mate. Making sure I didn't do anything, and I mean anything, that he deemed dangerous for our child or me. To tell the truth, at the beginning of the week it was adorable but by the end of the week, I was ready to tie him to something and leave him there for awhile. There was only so much hovering a person could take before it really got on their nerves.

On Friday night, I'd finally had enough of him. He'd been hovering over the kitchen table, watching me eat, apparently to make sure I cleaned my plate and I just couldn't take it anymore. "Edward!"

He jumped. "What?!"

"Go play with the boys. Leave me alone for a bit."

I knew I sounded like a bitch but he really was getting on my last nerve. Just as his face dropped, both Em and Jazz walked in, grabbed him by the arms and dragged him out, a very confused look on his face. I sighed with relief but felt bad for yelling at him. Esme walked in and put her arm around my shoulders.

"Are you okay, Bella?"

I turned my head and gave her a rueful smile. "Yeah. I'm fine. Edward is just kind of getting on my nerves. He keeps hovering. I know he's scared and worried but everything has been fine so far. I'm healthy and according to all the tests Carlisle has done, the baby is too. I just need him to back off a bit and enjoy the experience with me."

"I know Bella. Just put yourself in his shoes for a moment. What if the roles were reversed and he was going through something that you were a part of but separate and there was a very real chance you could die? How would you feel? What would you do?"

"Esme, I know it's hard for him. Especially with all the horror stories that he has heard over the years but we are different. We can do this and both me and the baby will be just fine. I just need him to trust in me and Carlisle and Leah. Carlisle would never let anything bad happen to me."

"No he certainly won't, Bella. You're like a daughter to him. You have been since the day Edward introduced us to you. You complete Edward, Bella. He is beside himself with fear that something will happen to you. He has been fairly good about keeping that fear to himself with the exception of the day you told him about the baby but please don't think that it isn't still a huge part of his actions towards you."

I sighed. I knew he was still terrified. At the rate that the baby seemed to be growing, this was not going to be a 9-month gestation period. Leah wasn't sure about the gestation for female shape-shifters either since it was something that had never been documented. With the accelerated everything in our bodies, it was a good possibility that pregnancy was too. It was going to be interesting to see just how fast the baby grew.

Esme gave me another quick hug and wandered out of the room. I finished my meal and wandered upstairs to see what Rose and Ali were up to. I found them in Ali's room hanging out on the bed chattering away in vampire speed. I knocked on the open door even though I knew they'd heard me come up the stairs. Ali smiled and jumped up off the bed. Grabbing my hand she dragged me over.

"Look Bella! I'm designing the baby's room. We SO have to go shopping soon. You're going to need new clothes! And we have to get everything for the baby."

A horrified look came over my face. Oh no! I wasn't going shopping with her again. It always turns into a marathon and I never ever got to buy what I wanted. Ali had decided it was her goal in life to dress me "appropriately" except her ideas of what I should wear and my ideas of what I liked to wear were in completely opposite directions. Rose started laughing at me, making me stick my tongue out at her. Her eyes narrowed and she grinned.

"Put that away if you don't plan to use it."

It took me a minute before her words sunk in but once they did my face went redder than a radish. Ali and Rose burst out laughing, rolling all over the bed. I could hear Edward start laughing downstairs and then Jazz and Em chimed in once he explained what Rose had said. I could feel my face getting hotter and hotter. I humphed and headed to the door, tears unexpectedly welling up in my eyes. I had just reached the hallway when I felt arms encircling my waist and my head found a resting spot on Edward's shoulder. He quickly picked me up and moved us to our room and laid me down on our bed, laying beside me and drawing me into his arms. I sobbed into his shoulder, not even knowing where all this emotion was coming from.

He didn't say a word, just moved his hand through my hair in a soothing fashion. I wasn't sure how long we were there for before there was a soft knock on the door. Esme's head popped in when Edward bade the person to enter.

"Bella, are you okay? Rose and Ali told me what happened."

I nodded and then shook my head. She looked at me closely and I shrugged. I wasn't sure what I was feeling at the moment. All of a sudden in Ali's room, I had just felt so overwhelmed by everything that had been happening. Esme came over and sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her hand on my back.

"I know a little bit about how you feel Bella. The emotions can be overwhelming at times and with everything that you have gone through in the past few months and being pregnant on top of it, I can just imagine how you feel. I was amazed that it hadn't hit you before this. Just let Edward take care of you tonight, sweetheart. Let him wait on you hand and foot and pamper you for a few hours."

Turning to Edward, she said, "Edward, go run Bella a nice warm bath would you. I'll sit with her while you do that. Put some lavender in the water."

Not one to argue with his mother, Edward eased away from me and Esme took his place. Wiping the tears off my face, she kissed my cheek gently.

"Rose feels really bad for her remark. She didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"Oh Esme! It wasn't that. I would have probably thought it funny at any other time. It was just like a storm of feelings came over me and like you said, I felt completely overwhelmed. Sometimes it all feels like a dream and at other times it is only too real."

Edward came back in the room, mission accomplished and he walked over to the bed to pick me up. "I can walk, you know."

He just smiled, "all part of the pampering, luv."

Esme left us alone after kissing us both good night. "I'll let the rest of the family know that you're having some alone time tonight. They'll all leave you alone."

"Thanks Mom."

I soaked in the warm bath for a while, listening to Edward play his guitar in the other room, softly singing a lovely song that I didn't recognize. Just as the water started to get too cool, he came in and lifted me out. Gently toweling me dry, he placed me on the couch and sat beside me. On the table in front of me was an assortment of snacks that someone must have brought up for me. I wasn't hungry at the moment but I did appreciate the gesture.

Edward wrapped a blanket around me and I snuggled up against him. Nuzzling my nose into his neck, I kissed his collarbone and snuck my hand inside his plaid shirt. I was amazed he still had one with the buttons intact. I tended to get a little impatient with buttons. I snickered to myself. I had to buy the ones with snaps maybe, easier access.

After the relaxing bath and laying here against him, softly caressing his chest, I could feel the emotions that had driven my tearful breakdown easing away. My other hand unconsciously moved to my baby bump and I smiled as I realized that Edward's hand was moving to the same place as mine. I linked our hands together as they lay over our baby, mine on top of his. Closing my eyes, my body relaxed and I just enjoyed the quietness of the room. I could feel Edward watching me when suddenly he jumped, his hand raising off my stomach. I looked up to his face and his eyes were wide with shock.

"What's wrong Edward?"

"Did you hear something?" He said as he just kept staring at my stomach.

"Er, No." I replied. "What did you hear?"

* * *

All right everyone. Let's see how many read the notes LOL. Hit the green link and leave a suggestion for the baby's name. FYI. It will NOT be Reneseme LOL


	42. Baby Talk, Chapter 41

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

* * *

**Happy Reading Everyone!**

**Welcome to all you new readers! It gives me the warm & fuzzies when I see a new Favourite Alert in my inbox! And I greatly appreciated the reviews! You give awesome feedback. **

**Sorry for the delay in updating on here. Kinda got a bit of writer's block on this chapter but I finally beat it into submission. LOL**

* * *

Chapter 41 - Baby Talk

**Edward's POV**

I knew that I was driving Bella a little crazy with my fear and reactions. I just couldn't help it. The baby was growing at an accelerated rate. Our baby. A shiver still ran down my spine every time the thought crossed my mind. And since I didn't sleep, the thought was there a lot.

I was hovering. I was pissing Bella off. These were to facts of my current existence. My siblings were laughing at me. My parents were worried about me. And Bella was just getting annoyed with me despite of how much she loved me.

The week went pretty much calmly, barring my hovering and her annoyance. I'd purchased some baby books at the beginning of the week and stocked the kitchen full of healthy food for both Bella and the baby. That seemed to annoy her too. I was at a loss of what to do. According to the books, mood swings were normal. But then that was for human, there wasn't such a reference book for a shape-shifter.

I was sitting with her in the kitchen watching her eat on Friday and all of a sudden she ordered me to leave her alone. I was shocked. I was hurt. My brothers suddenly appeared and removed me. I realised with in minutes that they'd done the right thing. They were saving me from myself it seemed.

I could hear Esme talking to her and she calmed down and I decided at that point to just do as she asked and give her a little bit of space. She wandered upstairs to see the girls and I hung out with Em and Jazz.

I laughed when I heard Rose's remarks and explained it to the other two that found it hilarious but suddenly the mood upstairs changed and I saw a flash of Bella's face, her eyes full of tears.

I was upstairs and had her in my arms within seconds of seeing the vision from Rose's mind. Hurrying her into our room as she was suddenly sobbing into my shoulder. I wasn't sure how long I held her, it felt like hours but was more like minutes. It broke my heart to hear her crying.

My mom popped her head in and told me to run Bella a bath while she talked with her for a little bit. I immediately obeyed. Mom was much batter at handling an emotional crisis than I was. Before meeting Bella, my emotional connections had mostly been connected to my family and other than the odd temper tantrum our emotions were as far from angsty as we could get. .

As Bella soaked in the tub, I played my guitar and sang softly while I waited in our room. Through our emotional and mate bond, I could feel her relaxing as she lay in the lavender scented water. I heard her leave the tub as the water cooled and felt the electricity between us as she approached the couch where I was sitting. She glanced over at the food on the table in front of me but didn't seem too interested at the moment. Sitting beside me, she leaned against me, snuggling into my side, her hand going under my shirt to caress my chest. I closed my eyes, relishing in the feel of her hand on me. My other hand joined her to rest over our baby, her hand on top of mine.

Suddenly I heard something and I jumped, my hand raising off of her stomach. What the hell was that?

Bella turned her face to look up at me, her eyes questioningly.

"Did you hear something?" I asked in answer to her unspoken question.

"Er. No" was all she said for a moment. "What did you hear?"

I looked from her stomach up to her eyes and back again.

"I heard the word love" I replied in a whisper.

"You heard the word?"

I looked back into her eyes, quizzically. "No. I heard the word Love."

"What's the word?" She was looking confused now and I was getting annoyed. Was she purposely doing this?

"Love. That is the word that just went through my mind just now. Just that L O V E. "

My hand went back to rest on her stomach and I tried to concentrate to see if I could hear anything else.

Her confused eyes went from me, down to my hand and back. "You heard the baby????" she gasped out.

"I think so." I furrowed my brow, trying to hear anything else. Bella breathe stopped like it always did when anticipating something, and I heard, "Air."

My eyes whipped up to meet hers and I started to laugh "Breath Bella."

She took a breath and looked at me quizzically. "The baby said air."

She giggled, remembering every time I had to tell her to breathe when I dazzled her, as she called it.

The door suddenly burst open, despite Esme's request that all of them to leave us alone tonight. Such was the life of living with my family. No privacy. Bella jumped at the sound and movement, instinctively huddling close to me with her hand firmly over the baby.

"What the hell!"

We both turned towards the intruder. Alice. I should have known.

"Alice for crying out loud. Are you TRYING to give Bella a heart attack or something? "

"I'm sorry Edward. I just had to make sure she was okay. She glitched out on me and I got scared." It was then that I noticed the pinched look on her face and the fear in her eyes.

Bella got up off the couch and went to her instantly, putting her arms around her and hugged her closely feeling her body shaking.

I watched her lean back away from her after a few moments, "Alice, I'm fine. It was probably the baby that made you lose sight of me."

I knew that she could only see Bella occasionally because of her change but she could always see her through my future. For her to get so scared that she burst into our room after Esme had told everyone that it was off limits, the baby must be blocking her visions as well. I was sure it would be another thing that Carlisle would find interesting about this pregnancy.

"The baby?" She let go of me and looked down at my stomach. "What?"

"Edward heard the baby 'talk' a few minutes ago. That must have been when you could see me."

She put her hand gently on Bella and stood perfectly still for a few minutes. Shaking her head, she sighed. "Yup, it was the baby."

Bella gave her another hug, "It's okay Alice. We are all okay."

She turned toward me, "Do you hear the baby now?"

I concentrated for a few minutes, then I just had to grin. I started laughing as Alice and Bella looked at each other puzzled.

"All I got was the word pixie. I think the baby is talking about you Alice."

I started to laugh and almost pissed myself at the look on Alice's face.

"Stop calling me a PIXIE! Damn it Edward! The baby is going to call me that now!" she wailed. Suddenly Jasper was at her side, his arms surrounding her.

"You okay babe?" he asked, his tone calm and comforting.

"Stop it Jasper! I wanna be mad at Edward for a few minutes!"

We all started laughing and after a moment, Alice joined in.

We finally calmed down and Alice gave each of us a hug. "Sorry again for scaring you Bella, I just got worried. And tell the pup to not listen to his father. Brothers are such a pain sometimes."

Bella snickered. "The pup? Oh come on. I'll pass on the message though."

She shrugged as she turned towards the door, "hey, wolf, pup .. it fits. Love you Bella. Edward, not so much."

"Love you too Alice!" I called through the closing door.

Bella turned back to me as I was trying to hid my laughter "That was so not nice."

I held my hands up in submission, "Hey, wasn't me. Tell pup!"

"We are so not calling our baby 'pup' Edward!" but she couldn't seem to help but laugh, knowing that now that it was out there, the family was sure to keep using it.

"Are you feeling any better Bella?"

"Yes babe. I'm feeling better, although I think I could do with a bit of a nap. I'm a little sleepy. Wanna join me?"

"Sounds good to me." Before she could take a breath I swung her up in my arms and carried her to the bed. I crawled in beside her and hummed in her ear as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

I laid next to my love as she slept, my eyes closed. Although I never slept, I still stayed with her as she did. I enjoyed listening to her sleep talk which was more and more about the baby and less and less about James and her changing. I listened for anymore from our 'pup' but the baby must have fallen asleep as Bella did.

Thinking over the situation with James, I realized that I didn't really care who stopped him. When he first challenged me and threatened Bella, I felt that it had to be me that took him down, that I needed to protect her. Now, I didn't really care. If the wolves found him first, more power to them. I almost wished they would get him and Victoria and all this stress would be over.

I felt Bella shift beside me, awakening slowly like she always did. It always made me smile, watching her wake up. She was so childlike as she stretched and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Hello" she murmured as she reached up to softly kiss my cheek. "What time is it? How long have I been out?"

"For a couple of hours. Are you hungry? I think Esme actually made something for you. She popped her head in about an hour ago."

"I'm ravenous!" She sat up at the thought of food waiting for her downstairs.

I laughed at her, "are you sure it's you that is hungry and not the pup?"

"EDWARD! We are NOT calling our baby PUP!"

"Well, just hope that Emmett didn't hear Alice earlier or you won't have a choice in the matter." I laughed as I pictured Bella trying to dissuade my big goofy teasing brother to not use the ammunition he'd been given. He loved to tease, in a goodnatured way. He would never intentionally hurt someone but sometimes he didn't know when to quit. All I can say, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes if he makes Bella angry.

"At the rate the little one is growing in here, we'd better start thinking of names pretty quick though. And we are not taking any suggestions from Emmett either!" she laughed as she opened the door to head downstairs. At the doorway, she realized I wasn't with her and turned back to look at me. "Coming?"

I was instantly at her side and we wandered down to the kitchen to feed our ravenous 'pup' and its mother. As the nickname went through my mind again, I started to wonder if there were any multiple births in the Quileute tribe. Now that would be interesting. Emmett might not be far off when he had joked about a litter but I wasn't going to even think of broaching that subject with Bella. I will just let nature take its course and see what happens.

Everyone was happy to see Bella feeling better and we spent some time relaxing after Bella had engorged on whatever she could find in the kitchen after she consumed what Esme had made her. Jasper teased her that her appetite was going to rival Emmett's soon. She stuck her tongue out at him and we all laughed. It was kind of nice to be with the family and just have some laughs for a change. I made a decision then that we were going to have more times like this, James or no James.

* * *

**Alright everyone, names suggested so far: **

**Girls – Samantha, Ciara, Jenna, Lian, Malerie, Katrina, Lyla, Kayla and Marie**

**Boys – Riley and Hunter**

**So I'm getting the feeling most of you want it to be a girl? LOL**

**Got any other suggestions?**

Posted on February 25, 2010

**Words: 2260**


	43. More Surprises, Chapter 42

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

* * *

**Happy Reading Everyone!**

**Welcome to all you new readers! It gives me the warm & fuzzies when I see a new Favourite Alert in my inbox! And I greatly appreciated the reviews! You give awesome feedback. **

* * *

Chapter 42 – More surprises

**Bella's POV**

_PUP! What the fuck, Alice! She was getting as bad Emmett and his litter joke. That had actually been kind of funny but calling my little one PUP!_

We all had had a very enjoyable night, sitting around relaxing and basically ignoring the threat that had hung over Forks for the last weeks. I was so sick of having to live on the edge, guarding my back as well as everyone else's. I almost felt like asking Edward if we could go away and leave it in the pack's hands but I knew he wouldn't go for that. He was too responsible to leave a problem like this to others to solve.

Throughout the time we had spent being with the family in the past day, my thoughts had continually gone to what to do regarding James and Victoria. We all knew that they had been in the area of the house and even our meadow. That just pissed me off. It was OUR meadow and they had defiled it.

I wanted to call a family meeting soon, not just my new family but the pack and Charlie as well. It was time to tell Charlie everything. He was already aware of the supernatural world here in Forks, he might as well know everything especially, since his first grandchild would be part shape-shifter and part vampire. I was going to enlist Carlisle's help with that conversation. The baby was developing much faster than a human child, he was beginning to think that he or she would have a gestation period of half the normal time, which meant that I was going to be giving birth in a matter of weeks instead of months.

I was standing in the living room looking out the window, absorbing the silence of the house when I felt his arms encircle me and his hands spread over the small baby bump that had sprung up over the last few days. Everything had happened so fast for us. Meeting, falling in love, having a baby. The depth of my feelings for him still amazed me and every time I looked at or touched him, it felt my heart would burst. I turned around within his arms and reached up to kiss him, then laid my head on his shoulder, putting my arms around his waist.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Everything. You, me, the baby, James, Victoria, the pack, our families. Its been a very eventful few months since I found out what I actually was. Phoenix feels like a completely different world now."

Edward smiled down at me. "I'm sure it does. I guess teenage pregnancy and falling in love with a vampire wasn't exactly in your plans."

"Being a shape-shifter wasn't exactly in my plans. A part of me still doesn't completely forgive my parents for not telling me. And how weird is it that one of the two people that I meet online from Forks also turns out to be a shape-shifter? Oh My God! Angela! I haven't talked to her much since I started training. She's probably so worried about me. What am I going to tell her?"

"As much as you think she will be comfortable with. I highly doubt that many of the locals aren't aware of what the Quileute are. I'm sure its one of the worst kept secrets in the area." Edward told me with a laugh. "Talk with her. Feel out how much she knows. Her dad is a preacher so I'm sure she's heard rumours. Its going to be up to you to figure out whether or not she believes the rumours or not that will be the question of the day."

"Edward."

"Yes, Bella?"

"I think we need to get everyone together and discuss James and Victoria."

"Everyone?"

"Yup. Everyone. The pack, the family, even my father. And we had better tell Charlie everything too."

"Everything Bella? How do you think he'll handle knowing about us?"

"I don't know Edward. But we can't put it off too much longer now that I am showing." I moved my hands from around Edward to rest over our baby. Edward's hands joined mine. When I looked up into his face, there was so much love to behold that it brought tears to my eyes. While I watched, he face turned puzzled for a moment and he closed his eyes.

"What?" He didn't reply but suddenly he smiled and looked at me.

"Uhm Bella. We might want to keep this to ourselves except for Carlisle."

"What Edward? What do you know? What happened?" Despite the smile, I was starting to get apprehensive. I'd found that lately my emotions were all over the place. One minute I am so happy I could burst, the next I am crying like my heart is broken, another moment I am so angry I could spit. If this was part of the pregnancy hormonal thing I'd always heard about, the could take it back. I didn't like feeling so out of control.

Edwards eyes widened at my tone and he quickly drew me to his body to reassure me. "Nothing bad Luv. Uhm, its just that there isn't going to be a question of either he or she. We are going to have more than one baby."

I felt my whole body freeze as I looked up into his laughing eyes. "More. More than one? How many more than one?" I could feel my mind going out of control. Emmett's litter jokes. Pictures of the wolves flashing through my head.

"Oh My GOD! How many Edward?! Tell me!" I was screaming at him now, completely out of control of my reactions.

"Babe, I don't really know. We're going to have to talk to Carlisle. I just know that I just heard another voice in my head a few moments ago. I think they're talking to each other."

I was pretty sure that I was in shock by the time Edwards stopped talking. I felt my body being propelled across the room and I was suddenly sitting on the couch with Edward beside me, pulling me against his body and rocking me, my hands were resting on my stomach.

Great! My kids, I gulped mentally at the plural of that word, were going to be psychic? I shouldn't be so surprised at the possibility what with the Quileute wolf link and Edward's mind reading ability but still. With everything that had happened, good and bad, during the last few months, this was just the icing on the cake. And Babies. Not one baby but babies! I hadn't been positive I could handle one baby let alone more! And how many more?

I looked down to my hands, then turned and looked at Edward who was looking at me with love and concern in his eyes. Only one thought was going through my mind, I had to see Carlisle.

"Edward, call your father. We're going to the hospital." I didn't recognize my voice. Inside I was completely panicked but my voice was calm. Too calm. I was probably totally freaking Edward out.

"Bella. We can't go to the hospital luv. I will call Carlisle though and tell him to bring an ultra sound machine home with him." I could hear the humour in his voice. Okay, so I wasn't totally freaking him out. I was the one freaking out.

"Give me the phone when you're done. I need to call Leah."

I could feel his body quivering against mine and I knew he was trying to stop from laughing at me. Not surprisingly, my emotions were once again taking over and this time anger was rearing its ugly head.

I pulled away from him and stood up. "What the HELL is so funny Mister!? You think its FUNNY that I am having a "litter"?" My voice escalated as I talked.

"A LITTER?!" I heard Emmett's big voice coming from the landing inside the front door. I heard a smack and then "But Babe, SHE is the one that said it first!"

"I don't give a rat's ass who said it first Emmett! You don't have to repeat it!"

I turned to see Rose and Alice walk in the room. Rose came up and hugged me, I struggled to keep the surprise off my face as she did.

She pulled back slightly and looked into my face, "What's going on? We could hear you from outside."

I tried to smile at her but it probably came across like I was in pain. Looking down, I whispered, "I'm having more than one baby. I don't think I can handle this Rose."

"Bella, of course you can. You're strong. Look what you have already gotten through!"

I turned toward Edward, "Did you call your father yet?"

He nodded and handed me the portable phone I hadn't noticed in his hand. I quickly dialed Leah's number and asked if she could come to the house at around 7pm, not really going into any details. After she agreed, I hung up and indicated to everyone that I was going to lay down until Carlisle got home. I could feel everyone's eyes on my as I left the room. I was already laying in bed when I heard the door open and felt Edward crawl in beside me.

"I'm sorry I laughed, Babe. I didn't mean anything by it. I think I'm a little nervous about this myself but it was a totally inappropriate response. Forgive me?"

I sighed and rolled over to face him, putting my head against his chest.

"I'm not sure I can do this Edward."

"Do what?"

"Have more than one baby. Deal with James and Victoria. Have more than one baby."

I could feel his laughter at my repetition as I lay against him. Sighing, I turned my face up to kiss his angular jaw. He moved his head to kiss my lips lovingly.

"Bella, you one of the strongest people I know. We will both handle this with no problems. I promise. Now Carlisle is bringing the machine with him. He should be here by the time Leah arrives. Is she bringing Jake as well?"

"I think so. I've heard that they've been together constantly for the last few weeks. I'm pretty sure they've actually imprinted on each other, which is a huge relief for Leah. She didn't think she would find someone. It isn't usual for a male shape-shifter to actually imprint on another shape-shifter. They tend to imprint on humans. I guess it's an instinctual need to further the gene pool for us."

"That does make sense. We vampires don't really have that problem since we don't usually mate to procreate." His hand moved gently over our babies as he spoke. "This is somewhat of a miracle for me Bella. I never expected to have the opportunity to be a father."

"Well, that's destiny for you." I said laughingly. "We were made for each other. At least that's the story I'm sticking with."

His eyes moved up to meet mine and I could see the love and passion he felt for me reflected there. "I do love you Bella, no matter what."

"I love you too Edward. Now, can I have a nap until Carlisle gets here or until the babies decide they need to eat?"

"Of course, luv. Before you lay down though, Carlisle said you have to drink water if you want the ultrasound done when he gets home, then you can sleep and if they decide to say something about food, I'll wake you up."

I gave him a fierce look as he reminded me about them "talking" to him, and sat there looking at him expectantly. He looked puzzled for a moment before it dawned on him that I expected him to get the water. I drank it down as he brought to me and laid down on the bed, rolling this way and that trying to get comfortable. I finally landed in a comfortable position with my back to him and he moved up behind me fitting himself against my back, his arm coming over my waist protectively.

I must have crashed pretty hard because the next thing I knew, Edwards was softly kissing the back of my neck to waken me. I smiled as I tried to fake sleeping to see how far he would go to get me to wake up. I felt his mouth nuzzle against my ear as he spoke, "I know you're awake. The babies told me."

I gasped. "Those traitors!" I cried as I burst into laughter with Edward joining me. I groaned as I realized that laughter was not a good idea with a full bladder.

"Carlisle's home and setup in his exam room and Leah and Jacob just arrived. You ready to go down?"

"Just let me have a moment in the bathroom and I'll be ready."

Edward laughed at me. "Uhm, Bella you can't. That will defeat the purpose of the water you drank earlier."

I scowled at him as I maneuvered off the bed and headed to the door, looking back I noticed he hadn't moved. "Are you coming or what?"

I turned back to leave the room and he was at my side in an instant. We went down to the Carlisle's room and greeted Leah and Jake. I asked Leah to come in the room with us and Esme took Jake up to the kitchen for a drink.

"What's up Bella?" Leah looked so confused as to why she was here that I realized I only said it was about the baby and not why I wanted her here.

"Er, yeah, well. We sort of discovered something today and I wanted you here since you are the only other female shape-shifter currently in the pack."

"Nothing is wrong, is it?" she grasped my hands tightly.

"Oh no, Leah! Nothing is WRONG. It's just well. Edward can hear the babies talk to each other and .. "

"BABIES! As in MORE than ONE baby?" she exclaimed, her grip getting painful to bear.

"Ah. Yes. More than one baby. That's why I asked Carlisle to do the ultra sound tonight. I need to know just how many I am having! So far, Edward has heard two voices. I'm hoping that is all there is." I finished with a laugh.

"TWO! Oh wow."

"Bella, if you'd like to hop up on the table, we can get this ultra sound done." I turned to find Carlisle had gotten the machine all fired up and was waiting for me. Edward helped me up on the table and I laid down, drawing my, or rather his, t-shirt up from over my belly. Everyone was silent in the room as he globbed on the cold gel and used the wand to spread it around. He moved it slowly around and we all held our breath as we heard a swooshing sound came through the machine. Carlisle was watching the screen closely and I waited with bated breath for him to speak.

"Bella .. Edward .. from what I can gather .. "

* * *

**Alright everyone, names suggested so far: **

**Girls – Samantha, Ciara, Jenna, Lian, Malerie, Katrina, Lyla, Kayla and Marie, Gabrielle, Lilianna,  
new: Claire, Haley, Elisabeth, Ilyria, Chloe, Kaya, Mia, Riley, Serene, Arora, Madison, Annabel,  
**

**Boys – Riley, Vincent, Andrew, Alexander and Hunter  
new: aiden, liam, Cohen, Grayson, Haiden, Caleb, Riley, Sky, Heath, Casper, Casey  
**

**I have had a request for twins. What do you all think of a multiple birth? Might make life interesting for our couple. :D**

**Got any other suggestions?**

Posted on March 12, 2010

**Words: 2747**


	44. Growing Family, Chapter 43

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

* * *

**Happy Reading Everyone!**

**Welcome to all you new readers! It gives me the warm & fuzzies when I see a new Favourite Alert in my inbox! And I greatly appreciated the reviews! You give awesome feedback. **

* * *

Chapter 43 – Growing Family

**Edward's POV**

My grip on Bella's hand tightened as I waited for Carlisle to finish the sentence he started. Just how many were we going to end up with? I was nervous for her. Could her body withstand the rigors of a multiple birth? I was ever so thankful that Carlisle was there to help.

"Bella .. Edward .. from what I can gather .. and from the angle of the fetuses, there is definitely at least 3 heartbeats."

"THREE!" Bella cried out and gripped my hand even tighter.

"It's okay Bella, WE can do this."

There was a knock at the door and I could hear Alice's concern in my mind. I indicated to Leah to open the door since my hand was in a death grip in Bella's.

Bella was muttering under her breath, repeating over and over .. oh my god, oh my god. I almost laughed considering Carlisle's background but I was at least smart enough to realize laughter was really not a good idea right now and ever thankful that Emmett was not in the room.

Alice popped her head inside the door and I quietly let her know Bella was alright, just in shock. We'd share the news with the rest of the family later.

Carlisle printed a couple of copies of the sonogram and handed one to me. At that moment, looking at that picture, everything became so much more real. I was going to actually be a father. Reluctantly, I drew my eyes away from the picture and looked over at Bella. Carlisle was handing her a towel to get rid of the gel covering her stomach and I stared at the spot she was wiping. I watched as if I was having an out of body experience as the hand that wasn't still connected to Bella's reached out and covered where my children laid nestled safe within her.

My eyes rose to meet hers and if it had been possible for me to shed tears, I'd have been crying like a baby. Bella's eyes were shocked but also so filled with love that I was overwhelmed with the feelings going through me. She was the love of my existence and through sheer luck or happenstance, we were going to be parents together.

Carlisle spoke then, drawing my attention away from Bella. "Well. This will be interesting Bella. We're going to have to do these sonograms more often than normal since there are at least three in there and you are going to have to get a lot of rest and nutritious foods. Leah, do you know of anything that she needs to do?"

"Well, Carlisle, we are all just flying by the seat of our pants here on this one. None of the elders really remember a female shape-shifter in our history although there was probably one at some point, let alone one that got pregnant and certainly not by a vampire." she laughed a little in an effort to diffuse the tension in the room. "We are pretty sure that there were some, but none of the them went through the transformation like Bella and I have."

"Okay then. Bella, we are going to have to make sure that you follow all regiments for normal human pregnancies and then some. If for any reason you have an overpowering craving for something please tell Edward right away. It will mean that the babies need something that you aren't currently providing. I also want to make sure you get enough rest. You already sleep more than the normal human so if you feel tired for whatever reason, you must let me know. The babies are growing at an accelerated rate but not as fast as I originally thought that they would. You're probably looking at a gestation period of half of a human pregnancy. So in about four months, you should be getting ready to deliver."

I listened very carefully to everything Carlisle was explaining to Bella. One of my single most important goals right now was to protect her and our children. That meant that something was going to have to be done about James and Victoria, sooner rather than later.

Almost as if she was reading my thoughts, Bella turned to Leah and asked her if she could speak with the elders and request a meeting of them and us, including her father. Leah, knowing what was going through Bella's mind, readily agreed to talk with everyone and left, bidding everyone good night as she and Jacob left the house.

We wandered up to the living room to give the rest of the family the news, which made Esme completely ecstatic and had Alice running for the computer to browse websites that sold things for multiple births. Emmett chortled over our litter, as expected, and earned a smack from Rosalie. I was ever so glad that she came across Emmett that day in the woods. Even though when Carlisle had changed her, they had high hopes for her and I to be together, the feelings just hadn't been there. Her and Emmett fit together like a hand and glove. Sometimes you just had to believe in destiny.

Bella started to look tired after an hour or so with the family so I led her upstairs and laid down with her while she fell asleep. Lying next to her, the babies were quite active and I could distinguish a third voice in my head. I really hoped that three was all there was because I had a feeling that Bella would go crazy if there were more than that. Carlisle had only said at least three.

My phone range about an hour into Bella's nap, it was Leah with the elders' response to Bella's request for a meeting. They all agreed since it was obvious James and Victoria were a threat to the innocents in the Fork's area. There hadn't been any unexplained deaths right in Forks, but an out of town hike had disappeared from the park just outside of town and as far as the pack was concerned, it was close enough to affect their sense of responsibility.

It was agreed that a meeting would be arranged for two days from today, giving Bella time to talk to her father ahead of time. We would congregate in a field between the reservation and Cullen land. Neutral territory.

We hung up after I assured Leah that Bella was fine, just sleeping and told her I'd have Bella give her a call when she woke up. I slipped from the bed, quickly and quietly making my way downstairs to talk with the family.

"Can everyone come into the dining room please?" I requested speaking in a normal voice. Everyone showed up quickly and I got down to the business of explaining the meeting that would happen with the pack in a couple of days to discuss James and Victoria. Emmett was excited to plan for a fight with the renegade vampires. I hadn't shared as of yet the news with Bella that Carlisle had let me know through his thoughts when he got home with the ultra sound equipment. He'd heard from an old friend at the Volturi compound that James was well known to them and they'd been after him for a while for his disregard for the secret of our kind, his willingness to kill haphazardly was putting our secret in danger. They'd been marked as renegades and there was a bounty on their heads. This made them also extremely dangerous to all of us.

James was a very talented tracker. He'd had to be after getting on the wrong side of the Volturi and surviving for this long. We'd have to come up with a foolproof plan to trap him but no matter how much she will want to wish to be a part of the plan, there was no way in hell I was going to let Bella near him. She was my life now and she carried some very precious souls inside her now.

I glanced at the newly acquired clock on the wall of the dining room and realized that Bella had been sleeping for about three hours. As my thoughts turned to her, pictures started flashing through my mind. Pictures that I never wanted to appear in Bella's mind. She was having a nightmare of James and Victoria catching her and tearing our babies from her. I flew upstairs and took her into my arms just as she woke up screaming.

"I'm here, Bella. I'm here. They will never come near you. I swear."

She grabbed my shirt tightly and sobbed against me. "We have to protect them Edward. We have to!"

"We will Bella. We will. No one is going to hurt either you or our children. I swear it."

I held her tightly until her sobs abated and she fell back to sleep. Time passed slowly as I watched her, my mind wandering over various scenarios of how to deal with James and Victoria. At times like this, I was almost happy to not have the ability to sleep. I was sure my unconscious mind would work overtime in creating the nightmares that seemed to haunt Bella right now. She was sleeping quite contently while I had her in my arms.

She slept right through until morning and started to stir as the sun started to peak through the trees surrounding the house. Her eyes lit up the moment they focused on my face and I smiled. The look in her eyes when our eyes met made my world complete. How I lived without her for so long was a complete mystery to me.

I leaned down to kiss her gently, my hand moving to caress the area our children were safely nestled under. As our lips met, the passion I always felt for her rushed through me and I deepened the kiss, tasting her unique flavour. I felt her sigh as her arms moved around my neck drawing me closer. After a few minutes, I drew back and smiled.

"We don't have time for that right now Bella." I chuckled at the disappointment on her face. "Later, I promise."

"I'm holding you to that."

I stood up and helped her out of the bed, gently pushing her towards the bathroom. "Go shower and get ready. We have to call your Dad. Maybe make a lunch date since the meeting with the pack is setup for tomorrow. Leah called while you were sleeping. "

"Oh! Okay. I'll get ready and call Charlie."

While she showered and prepared for the day, I ran downstairs to get her breakfast and vitamins. I arrived back in the bedroom just as she was attempting to button up the pair of jeans she had grabbed out of the dresser. Her bottom lip was between her teeth as she struggled to make the connection between buttonhole and button, which didn't seem to be working very well. I chuckled at the sight and her head whipped up, her eyes narrowed.

"You think this is funny? I'm FAT!"

"Bella, you aren't fat. You are perfect." My eyes wandered up and down her body, my body reacting quite quickly.

She looked back at me and quickly noticed my body's reaction and blushed. She shimmied back out of the jeans and grabbed a pair of jogging pants instead.

"Wonderful choice." I smiled at her, lowering my voice as I approached her, "and much easier to get you out of later."

She blushed more and turned her face into my chest. At that moment, voices came into my mind saying the word love over and over. I grabbed Bella's hand with mine and place them over her stomach. Leaning down, I whispered "Yes we love you."

Bella looked at our hands for a moment with the most loving expression on her face. She turned her face to mine and kissed me. "You heard them again?"

"Yeah. All the said was 'love' over and over."

We stood there just enjoying the moment.

"I think I have to go shopping Edward." She whispered softly, almost like she was afraid to spoil the moment. As soon as the words were out of Bella's mouth, we heard "SHOPPPING YAY from the lower level of the house and we both burst out laughing.

"I guess she heard you"

Bella giggled and turned to sit on the couch. She made short work of her breakfast and grabbed her phone to call her father. They agreed to meet at the house at noon. We made our way downstairs where she was accosted by Alice who immediately decided there was enough time to run to Port Angeles to get Bella more clothes. Rosalie decided to go as well and they took Emmett with them as a driver. I invited Jasper to hunt which everyone thought was a good idea before sitting down for lunch with Charlie.

I wasn't too sure how he was going to take our little talk. Not only did we have to inform him that Bella was even further engrossed in the supernatural world surrounding the town of Forks than he was aware of, we also had to let him know that he had grandchildren on the way who were a complete mixture of that world.

I wasn't sure how Charlie was going to take the news but I knew my family and the pack would be there for Bella no matter what.

* * *

**Alright everyone, names suggested so far: **

**Girls – Samantha, Ciara, Jenna, Lian, Malerie, Katrina, Lyla, Kayla and Marie, Gabrielle, Lilianna,  
new: Claire, Haley, Elisabeth, Ilyria, Chloe, Kaya, Mia, Riley, Serene, Arora, Madison, Annabel, Chloe, Hayden  
**

**Boys – Riley, Vincent, Andrew, Alexander and Hunter  
new: aiden, liam, Cohen, Grayson, Haiden, Caleb, Riley, Sky, Heath, Casper, Casey, Nate  
**

**I have had a request for twins. What do you all think of a multiple birth? Might make life interesting for our couple. :D**

**Got any other suggestions?**

Posted on March 14, 2010

**Words: 2450**


	45. Meeting with Charlie, Chapter 44

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

* * *

**Happy Reading Everyone!**

**Welcome to all you new readers! It gives me the warm & fuzzies when I see a new Favourite Alert in my inbox! And I greatly appreciated the reviews! You give awesome feedback. **

**This story is coming along more quickly now that it is the only one I am working on ****LOL. Hope everyone is still enjoying it.**

**Just a note: A couple of timeline issues in earlier chapters were pointed out to me by a new reader and as soon as I have the time, I will fix those. If you see alerts for old chapter, that is what is happening. Thank you so much to AlmostThere2010 for pointing them out!**

* * *

Chapter 44 – Meeting with Charlie

**Bella's POV**

Alice and shopping go together like roses and thorns, I thought with a chuckle, and adding Rose into the mix was just asking for a joyride from hell. They dragged me to every shop in Port Angeles that sold anything that would remotely fit my widened girth and decided to buy for future expansions as well. I didn't mind that so much. I hated shopping and if I could buy enough to do me for the rest of this pregnancy, the happier I would be.

They made me eat at a restaurant downtown, Edward's orders and for once I didn't mind him having others look after me. I was exhausted. The nightmare that had woke me up during the night was still on the fringes of my mind. I spend most of the time looking over my shoulder, feeling like someone was watching me. That tingling down my spine just refused to leave and I was grateful when Alice finally decided that we were done and could head home. I knew that Jasper and Edward had left to go hunting when we had left the house but I knew he would be home when we got there.

We arrived back at the house just in time to swing by the pub for the food I'd ordered for me and my dad and head to meet up with him. The closer we got, the more nervous I was becoming. He had been so good with the shape-shifting thing. He seemed to like Edward despite the fact that I knew he'd always hoped that Jake and I would get together as a couple, especially after he had discovered that we were internet friends before I even moved here. I'm sure he knew by now through Billy that Jake and Leah had imprinted now so I hoped that he wouldn't try to kill Edward when we gave him our news. Maybe the fact that he would be a grandfather soon would help. By the gods, I hoped so.

I looked over at Edward, reaching out my hand I tried to smooth some of his hair down a bit so it didn't quite look like he'd just rolled out of bed. He smiled over at me as I grunted in frustration when his hair refused to co-operate.

"It's never going to do what you want Bella." He smirked at me. "It's always going to look like we just had amazing sex."

"Yeah I know. It's an up hill battle." I replied, laughing myself.

We pulled into the driveway just as my father's car was doing the same. Edward turned off the engine and sat there for a few minutes, watching me. I took a deep breath.

"Let's get this over with."

He got out and quickly moved to my side of the car, opened the door and reached in to help me out. I started to turn and reach in for the bags of food but Edward quickly put his hands on my shoulders and steered me away from the car, gently pushing me towards my father as he got out of his squad car.

Crap! I was going to have to give him a greeting hug and I was sure that he was going to feel the changes that had already occured with my body. My baby bump, as Emmett started calling it when he wasn't referring to the babies as "the litter" or "the pups", was getting quite noticeable. Edward seemed to realize my dilemma at the last moment and quickly handed me one of the bags as he came up to my right side. I smiled at him gratefully and headed towards the door of the house, Edward and my dad following me. Heading straight to the kitchen, I grabbed plates and served out the food at the kitchen table. It was nice to see that Charlie had kept the kitchen tidy while I'd been staying at the Cullen house, although he probably hadn't been using it that much as the diner was his favourite dining pleasure.

We sat in silence for a few minutes while I thought of how to broach the subject. Edward remained quiet, but I could feel his love and support. Taking a breath, I decided to just get it all out there.

"Dad, Edward and I have something to tell you. Part of it might be a bit of a surprise for you, a good surprise I hope."

I looked up briefly to my father's face then down to my hands that were resting on the table in front of me. Edward's hand moved up to grasp mine in support and I turned to smile at him gratefully.

"What's up Bells?"

"Okay Dad. I need you to stay calm. I know that my becoming a shape-shifter sort of took us by surprise, especially me but, well, I have to tell you something about Edward."

"What? Is he also a shape-shifter?"

I laughed, "Ah no. That would make everything so much less complicated if he was. He is actually ... a vampire."

"A WHAT!??" Looking up swiftly to meet my father's eyes, I saw the vein at his temple bulging and I thought for sure he was going to have a coronary.

"A vampire." I reiterated in a small voice, wincing as I spoke. I felt Edward's arms encircle my shoulders and I automatically leaned against him, my hands going down to cover our babies.

Charlie sat there staring, his eye darting back and forth between Edward and I. He started muttering under his breath and I strained to hear the words, "Vampires, not enough she has to turn into a shape-shifter. She has to find vampires."

His head started shaking back and forth as if trying to deny what I had just told him.

"Uhm. Dad?"

His eyes focused back to me, his brow furrowed. "What Bella?"

"Well, there is something else too."

He rolled his eyes at me. He fucking rolled his eyes. What kind of father rolls their eyes at their kid? Tell me that?

"Now what? Is Angela a witch?"

I gasped. "NO! Well, I don't think so anyway." I retorted, causing Edward to chuckle that made Charlie turn to him with a searing look.

"Then what?" he said rather abruptly. Obviously, he was not taking the news about Edward very well. I was almost afraid to tell him I was pregnant.

"Ah, you see. We, ah, discovered something recently. It seems that now that my body chemistry has changed from being transformed into a shape-shifter, some medications don't work on me."

"What kinds of medication?" Charlie asked, showing concern for the first time since I mentioned the word vampire.

"Like birth control." I muttered in a very low voice.

"Stop muttering Bella and spit it out!" he almost shouted at me and I could feel Edward's body start to tense up even more. He hated it whenever anyone spoke to me like that, including my father. He almost took someone's head off at La Push while I had been training, literally. It was just lucky that between Leah and I, we'd been able to difuse the situation.

I straightened my back, looked directly at my father and said, "I am pregnant."

I could feel Edward's hand squeezing my shoulder in reassurance as soon as I said the words. The look on Charlie's face would have been hysterically funny if someone else had put it there instead of me. The room was so silent, you could have heard a pin drop as we waited for his reaction.

His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. No words were forthcoming. I jumped as my cell phone suddenly rang in my pocket. Thankful for a distraction from the tension in the room, I quickly answered it.

"Bella, it's Carlisle. Put your father on the phone."

I didn't say anything in response, just held the phone out to Charlie. Glancing over at Edward, I noticed the puzzled look on his face. 'Carlisle', I mouthed silently to him. He nodded and turned his attention back to Charlie.

I was wondering what Edward was hearing in Charlie's mind but I knew I couldn't ask him at the moment. Patience wasn't on of my virtues and waiting for Charlie to get off the phone was wearing on my nerves. He was only humming and grunting his responses so I couldn't tell what Carlisle was telling him. I hated not knowing what was going on.

Finally, Charlie hung up and handed me back my phone. We sat there for a few more minutes, I studied my phone while I waited for him to say something, anything.

"Well, so you're pregnant. Pregnant by a vampire, no less." He finally said, looking keenly at Edward as he spoke.

"Yes." I peered up through my lashes at him but couldn't for the life of me decipher the look that was on his face as he stared out the window next to the table.. We'd decided not to tell him about Edward's ability so I couldn't ask him what Charlie was thinking in front of him but as more minutes passed, I felt the tension start to abate in Edward's arm that surrounded me protectively. Charlie must be calming down and processing the news.

I waited and waited. Charlie didn't say anything. Finally Edward decided to break the silence. "Do you have any questions Charlie?"

Finally looking over at us, he met Edward's gaze. "Well, not really. Carlisle explained quite a bit on the phone. Although, I'd like to know what your intentions are, Edward."

"DAD!" I all but gasped out.

Edward put his hand on my back, rubbing lightly. "It's okay Bella, he should ask that question. I love Bella, sir. I do not plan to ever be a part from her."

"I see. And do you plan on marrying my daughter? You may be immortal but that doesn't get you out of fulfilling your obligations to her and your children."

"Yes, sir. I am planning on marrying Bella, as soon as she lets me."

I watched my father's face as they talked and could see the faint quirk of his lips when Edward made that comment. Turning to him, I smacked him lightly on the chest.

"Let you?! Maybe I won't if you're going to make fun of me Edward Cullen!"

He chuckled at me as he grabbed my hand. "See what I have to put up with?"

My father actually laughed at me. Really? Well, I guess whatever Carlisle had said to him made it easier for him to handle the news. I would be forever in Carlisle's debt for that one phone call.

As I turned to glare at Edward, I heard Charlie inhale deeply. "Bella."

I turned back to him, my eyebrow raising in a question.

"I can't say that I am happy that you are now in this situation. In my opinion you are way too young to be committed to a relationship and having a baby."

"Babies." I muttered, interrupting him.

"What? Did you just say BABIES? As in plural?"

"Ah yeah Dad. Carlisle did an ultrasound yesterday and heard at least three heartbeats. Would you like to see the sonogram picture?"

"Uhm. What? Already? Their big enough already??"

"I'm sure Carlisle could explain everything better than Edward and I could but I can say that the babies are slightly accelerated due to me being a shape-shifter and Edward being a vampire. We aren't sure how fast but Carlisle thinks the gestation period will be about half that of normal give or take. Leah is trying to help Carlisle find information about this but isn't having much luck. The elders don't know much about female shape-shifters."

"Wait a minute. Does Billy already know about Edward and the pregnancy?"

"They all know about Edward, only because they have a treaty in place with the Cullens. The Cullens do not feed on humans, only animals, so there is an agreement for them to not hunt on the Quileute land."

I never thought I would ever be grateful for Charlie's ability to control his emotions but I was really glad that he was not reacting really badly to our news. I'd almost expected him to get his gun and shoot Edward, not that it would have really done anything.

"Dad, there is a little problem in Forks right now." Edward looked at me strangely and mouthed 'little'. I shrugged. "Okay, it's a big problem. There are two vampires in the area that aren't like Edward's family. They do feed off of humans and the male has become taken with me. Apparently, my blood is very attractive to him because I'm a shape-shifter. I hate to tell you but the deaths in the area lately are because of them."

"Okay and … " Charlie looked at me like he was waiting for the shoe to drop.

"We are having a meeting tomorrow which I think you should attend, Dad. The pack and the Cullens want to figure out a way to rid us of those two vampires. I don't want them anywhere near my babies. Above all else, I must protect my children." I could feel myself getting tense at the thought of James and Victoria getting anywhere near me. Edward pulled me against him and hugged me closely. Charlie watched him closely and seemed to relax even more.

"Alirght Bella, I'll be there. When is it? I'll arrange to have my shift covered for that time."

"Everyone chose noon at the meadow between the Quileute land and Cullen land."

"I'll be there but right now I think I need some time to process everything you and Carlisle have told me today." He stood up and waited for us to rise as well. I hugged him and felt his arms trembling as the encircled my body. I started to head to the door with Edward behind me when I realised I hadn't given Charlie the sonogram picture. I looked around and found I'd left my bag in the car.

"Dad, could you come out to the car with us? I have the picture to give you."

He silently followed us out to the car and started intensely at the picture when I gave it to him. With a sigh, he gave me a half hug and headed back into the house. I looked over at Edward and he gave me a small smile. It looked like Charlie might be okay with everything, at least I hoped so.

We headed back to the house and I decided to lie down for a while. The emotional cost of today was taking its toll on both of us and I was exhausted.

I awoke briefly to eat and then headed back to bed, sleeping straight through until morning.

* * *

**Alright everyone, names suggested so far: **

**Girls – Samantha, Ciara, Jenna, Lian, Malerie, Katrina, Lyla, Kayla and Marie, Gabrielle, Lilianna,  
new: Claire, Haley, Elisabeth, Ilyria, Chloe, Kaya, Mia, Riley, Serene, Arora, Madison, Annabel,  
**

**Boys – Riley, Vincent, Andrew, Alexander and Hunter  
new: aiden, liam, Cohen, Grayson, Haiden, Caleb, Riley, Sky, Heath, Casper, Casey  
**

**I have had a request for twins. What do you all think of a multiple birth? Might make life interesting for our couple. :D**

**Got any other suggestions?**

Posted on March 14, 2010

**Words: 2450**


	46. Confrontation, Chapter 45

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

* * *

**Happy Reading Everyone!**

**Welcome to all you new readers! It gives me the warm & fuzzies when I see a new Favourite Alert in my inbox! And I greatly appreciated the reviews! You give awesome feedback. **

**This story is coming along more quickly now that it is the only one I am working on ****LOL. Hope everyone is still enjoying it.**

**Just a note: A couple of timeline issues in earlier chapters were pointed out to me by a new reader and as soon as I have the time, I will fix those. If you see alerts for old chapters, that is what is happening. Thank you so much to AlmostThere2010 for pointing them out!**

* * *

Chapter 45 - Confrontation

**Edward's POV**

Since the meeting with the pack was at noon, I let Bella sleep as long as possible before waking her in time to have breakfast before we had to leave. I could hear the rest of the family downstairs bustling about but thankfully they were quiet enough not to wake her up.

Around 10ish, Esme let me know she was making Bella's breakfast and I gently roused her to have a shower and get ready. It was a good thing that Esme had learned to cook from all those silly Food Network shows. It was basically a way to relieve the boredom of eternity and she always donated what she made to the homeless shelters and churches in the area. She was a very popular donator although some of her dishes were a bit unusual.

It was decided to take the jeep since everyone could fit into it with no problem and we drove as close to the field as we could, walking the rest of the way. I very carefully guided Bella through the faint path until we reached the area. She had chosen not to shift to get there in respect to her father who was waiting when we arrived. Most of the pack was already present when we arrive, some trickling in over the next 15 minutes.

Once everyone arrived, Charlie seemed to hang back and just listen, asking questions once in a while. Billy took charge of the meeting, asking everyone for ideas on how to deal with the renegade vampires. Carlisle shared the information he had learned about James and the bounty on his head, making sure that the last thing we all wanted is some kind of vampire bounty hunter to show up in the area. That would be really bad.

One of the pack that didn't know Bella well decided to suggest using her as bait which caused Leah, Billy, Jake and a few others to jump down his throat. It was nice to see others so concerned with her welfare besides Charlie and I.

The one thing that everyone agreed upon was that, considering Carlisle's information about the bounty, the last thing that James wanted was the Volturi to show up in the area. He may have outwitted them so far but from our source there, it seemed they were running out of patience with his antics.

We didn't need or want them showing up in Forks. They wouldn't look kindly upon our treaty with the Quileute or the fact that I was mated to a shape-shifter. They saw themselves as royalty to the Vampire society and didn't like outsiders knowing we existed. It was quite controlling of them and many vampires didn't like their attitude. The only reason that they had so much power was the fact that their numbers were large. If another coven managed to create a group as large, they might have to back down on some of their outrageous demands of our kind. I sighed, Bella looked at me quizzically and I shook my head. These thoughts needed to be postponed to another time.

But, back to the matter at hand. How were we going to trap James or even discourage him from this pursuit of Bella that he seemed hell bent on? He was extremely cunning, smart and an very talented tracker.

Several other ideas, besides using Bella as bait were tossed around and most rejected as too risky to either the pack or us. We had a few points to consider no matter what we did. Bella was his target. He'd been hanging around where her and I usually spent time; our meadow and the Cullen house to name a couple. The pack had been spending more time on our land to make sure both James and Victoria didn't get near the house again after I'd noticed their scent in the area.

After brainstorming for what seemed like forever but was really only 2 hours, we came up with a tentative plan. Leah was going to impersonate Bella since there was no way in hell I'd ever let her participate in any scheme that would put her or our children in harm's way. It was going to be tricky but we figured if we got it down to split second timing, we could pull it off.

Leah would dress in clothes that Bella had already worn to ensure James caught Bella's scent. She would draw him into a trap on Cullen land. He wouldn't think it strange to find our scent in the area and the pack would stay far enough away to keep their scent hidden. With Leah's ability to mind link with the rest of the pack, they would know the second that James and Victoria came near her. We would deal with them both. Although none of us thought it would be a problem to take them out ourselves, having the pack as backup will certainly not hurt. Once James and Victoria caught Leah's disguised scent, Bella would on her way somewhere out of the vicinity with Charlie where I'd come and get her once we'd dealt with our little problem.

The plan seemed to be foolproof but then again, only fools thought that way. Anything could go wrong and with a vampire as smart as James, it more than likely would. We could only keep our fingers crossed that everything went smoothly. In Carlisle's opinion, James' frustration level would work in our favour. He was probably getting quite annoyed as his inability to get near Bella so far.

We planned to make it look like we had dropped our guard over the next week or so to make it seem like we were no longer expecting them to attack. It was going to be a rough week for Bella, being on guard but pretending not to be. I already knew that the close we got to the day Leah would impersonate her, the more antsy she was going to get. Even thought she realized it was safer for her and the babies, I knew she would resent not being able to take care of James and Victoria herself. It wasn't sitting well with her that she had to sit out of the fight. My feisty little wolf was just itching to get her own against those two.

I shook my head sometimes when I thought of just how badly she wanted to fight for herself and I thanked whatever gods were out there that she at least had the common sense to know that she couldn't right now.

The next week passed fairly quickly, we caught up on all the school work we had to do and since Bella wasn't showing too much, she was able to go to classes. Charlie talked with Carlisle about that issue after the meeting with the pack and agreed that Bella would have to go on correspondence courses as soon as the pregnancy was too far advanced to not be noticeable by even the most unobservant human. Since most of the town knew she was staying at the house, we were going to make it know that she was under Carlisle's care for a medical condition. The principal was told in writing by Charlie that Carlisle had medical authority over Bella which would make it easier when it got to the point that Bella couldn't attend anymore. Carlisle would have the authority to pull her out of school without having to wait for Charlie to. Since Bella was staying at our house, it made more sense.

We both knew that someone was watching us all week. I could feel the glare of the vampires' eyes on us. The hair on the back of my neck tingled in warning and every once in a while, I could hear their random thoughts as they tried to figure out what we were doing. The female was wary of our now apparent lack of fear of them. The male was just cocky enough to believe that we had dropped our guard and thought they'd left the area. There hadn't been any random deaths in the last week or so by them, at least not in the vicinity of Forks. This only meant that they either had gorged enough before to not require blood at the moment, or they were hunting out of the area. We should probably check out the larger cities close by to ensure that they were being a little more discreet these days.

I tried to hide my knowledge of their thoughts but it was getting harder and harder to ignore what James wanted to do to Bella if he got her alone. Not that he would ever get the chance if I had anything to do about it but the thoughts in his head didn't make it easier to allow Bella to be out in the open and in danger. The longer we waited to get to the next phase of the plan, the more likely that James would catch on to the fact that I was aware of their presence around us.

During the past week, Leah had been practicing Bella's movements and mannerisms, preparing for the day she would impersonate her. She was honestly getting quite good at it. If not for the whole shape shifting thing, she could easily made a living as an actress. From a distance, she could quite easily be mistaken for Bella. The problem would be when James or Victoria got closer to pick up her scent. Their scents were dissimilar enough to a vampire to easily tell the difference.

Once the pack and Carlisle were convinced that Leah could easily play the part of Bella, we prepared for second part of the plan to go down. We chose a weekend for it all to happen so we didn't have to incorporate going to school into the plan. I was going to drive Bella over to Charlie's house as if we were going to spend time with him. After a couple of hours I would leave with Leah, who had snuck through the woods in wolf form to the house and waited there for us. After we were sure that both James and Victoria were following Leah and me, Charlie would take Bella out to La Push to be safe.

I could feel that James was getting impatient to get his hands on Bella and this made the trap much easier to set. Leah was wearing Bella's clothes to enhance the illusion I was extremely nervous leaving Bella, even though I knew she could fend for herself. The protective part of our mating reared its head with a vengeance the moment I drove away with Leah, my hands gripped the steering wheel tightly as I fought the urge to turn around.

I heard Leah chuckle under her breath and I glanced sideways at her to find that she was trying very hard to suppress the humour she found in the situation.

"Just you wait Leah. I know you will feel the same way on day."

"Actually Edward, I already do. It's one of the reasons I find this humorous. I was trying to picture what Jake is doing at this moment. He is attempting to keep his thoughts benign so I don't stress but I have a feeling he is pacing around like a wolf in a cage right now."

I looked over at her in surprise. I hadn't noticed any difference in Leah, although I'd probably been so distracted lately that an elephant could have walked in front of me and I wouldn't have noticed. Okay, a bit of an exaggeration but you know what I mean.

She grinned back at me. "Yeah. Me and Jake. Who would have thought it?" She laughed again.

"Bella knows?"

"Yeah, she guessed at the meeting the other week."

"Well, congrats! I know it makes Bella happy to see her friends happy and I'm sure she'll have something to say to him if he doesn't treat you right. She'd known him for quite a while now."

Leah blushed lightly, giggled a little and grinned at me. "Yeah. He's doing good so far."

I smiled back at her, happy that someone that had been so helpful to Bella as she went through the transformation and now through her pregnancy was with someone that treated her well.

We drove the rest of the way to the house in companionable silence. It truly amazed me how this girl could be so comfortable with our family given the animosity that was supposed to be between us. Right from the beginning, Leah showed no hostility towards us, especially after knowing what was between Bella and I.

As we drew closer to the house, I could feel James and Victoria a short distance away. They were approaching carefully as if expecting something to happen. We had decided to let them get as close to us as possible. Leah, as Bella, and I were going to venture into the woods behind the house, as if I needed to hunt.

We had to make it look like I left her alone once I caught the scent of a deer so they would approach her.

I could hear their conversation as they drew closer to us. They were almost bickering. Victoria thought it was a trap. James didn't believe we were smart enough to trap him. He should never underestimate someone that is protecting his or her loved ones.

Everyone was in place. Leah gave me the signal that the pack was ready and we headed down the path towards the meadow where we'd held the meeting. I could hear Carlisle, Emmett and Jasper in the house, preparing to follow us as planned.

We held hands as we made our way down the path, Leah pretending to trip every once in a while. Although graceful in wolf form, Bella still had a bit of a coordination problem as a human. After walking for about five minutes, we both caught the scent of a herd of deer on the edge of the meadow. I leaned closer to Leah and whispered that I was going to leave her for a few minutes and kissed her cheek as I would Bella. She nodded and watched me leave.

I could hear our prey getting excited that 'Bella' was alone and hoped that this was going to be it. It would be over and Bella and I could get on with getting ready for our family to expand in peace. I snagged one of the older members of the herd of deer to make my so called hunt legit and swung back around towards the house to meet up with the pack and Jasper and Emmett. Carlisle was staying in the house to make a stand with Rose, Alice and Esme if needed.

Part of the pack was going to approach from the meadow, the other from the house and we were hoping to catch James and Victoria in the middle. James may be adept at fighting other vampires, but it was doubtful he would be able to take on all the shape-shifters at the same time.

Once we were in position, we waited for Leah to give the signal through the mind link. I watched as Leah sat on a stump, just off the path we had taken. I could sense her body tensing as she caught the scent of the unfamiliar vampires that were approaching her position. She kept her body relaxed as if she was completely unaware of their presence. We all tensed waiting for her to let us know to move.

James was the first to approach from behind, Victoria standing not far from him. I was pretty sure that people in downtown Forks could hear his shriek of outrage when he finally caught Leah's own scent as he grabbed her shoulder and swung her around to face him.

"WHERE IS SHE!?!" I could hear him scream into her face. "Tell me or I will kill you right now!"

Leah stood up slowly, a grin on her face. "Yeah? You and whose army?"

As the words left her mouth, the pack sprang into action before James could lay another finger on her. Within seconds, both James and Victoria under the pack's control and were being forced towards our house where Carlisle waited. As the eldest of our coven, he had the power to decide what to do with them. The pack had put their vote in at the meeting to just kill them and be done with it but Carlisle abhorred killing except for survival. He wanted the chance to talk with James and let him decide his and his mate's fate, if that was what she truly was.

Carlisle came out on deck as the approached the house. The take down by the pack had happened so quickly, I didn't have a chance to get near Leah, let alone help them. I was fine with that however, Bella had made me promise to stay out of it if possible and I was all about keeping her happy and stress free.

Carlisle came down to stand in front of James, Emmett, Jasper and I by his side. Funnily enough, Victoria was quite calm while she waited beside James. As is she already knew what was going to happen. I wasn't sure what was up with her but Jasper was reading only a sense of calm from her, strange given the situation she was in.

James looked defiantly at Carlisle while he waited.

"James. A friend in the Volturi warned me about you. We know you are a target for assassination by their order and we nor the pack holding you would suffer any consequences for removing you from existence. That goes for your mate as well. She is a target because of your irresponsibility. My question to you is do you really want to die? Do you really want your mate to die?"

Victoria's face dropped as Carlisle spoke. Turning towards James, she struggled against the pack members holding her, "What the Fuck James! You told me you had dealt with all that! That they weren't after you anymore!"

As I watched and listened to his thought, James had the decency at least to feel ashamed that he had lied to Victoria. Apparently there was at least one thing he did care about.

Victoria turned to Carlisle, "I am certainly not willing to die for his little obsession with your human pet. She is apparently much more than a mere human. I have no quarrel with you or your friends."

Carlisle looked at Victoria closely. "If your mate agrees to leave my family alone

and leaves this area for good, we will have no quarrel with either of you. But if you agree to these terms, neither of you will be allowed to set food in the North

Western area of the Continental US or anywhere that our family decides to reside. If you enter an area where we are, you wi leave. We can only guarantee that one of us will not kill you, we have no control over what the Volturi do however."

Victoria turned back to James. "Agree James! You got us into a deeper mess than I thought could be possible! Agree to their terms and let us be done with this. That human or whatever she really is isn't worth losing our heads over! Agree damn it!"

Although his thoughts said otherwise, verbally James agreed to Carlisle's terms. As Victoria and James were released by the wolves, Carlisle added one more thing, "Oh and James, we will know if you go near any member of this family or the pack that is surrounding you. I will not hesitate to either deal with you personally or contact my friend in the Volturi to deal with you. I promise, either way will not be pleasant."

A shudder went down my spine at the lethal tone of Carlisle's voice. I'd never heard it before in all the years since I'd been turned and I hoped to never hear it again.

The wolves turned with the two vampires to escort them out of the area and I immediately grabbed my phone to call Bella.

"It's done. You can come home now."

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**Alright everyone, names suggested so far: **

**Girls – Samantha, Ciara, Jenna, Lian, Malerie, Katrina, Lyla, Kayla and Marie, Gabrielle, Lilianna, Claire, Haley, Elisabeth, Ilyria, Chloe, Kaya, Mia, Riley, Serene, Arora, Madison, Annabel, **

**new – Rhiannon, Ella, Emma  
**

**Boys – Riley, Vincent, Andrew, Alexander and Hunter  
new: aiden, liam, Cohen, Grayson, Haiden, Caleb, Riley, Sky, Heath, Ethan, Casper, Casey  
**

**Okay, so I think we have more than enough names now .. I will start thinking of which ones to use now. ****LOL**

Posted on March 22, 2010

**Words: 3668**


	47. Future Fears, Chapter 46

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

* * *

**Happy Reading Everyone!**

**Welcome to all you new readers! It gives me the warm & fuzzies when I see a new Favourite Alert in my inbox! And I greatly appreciated the reviews! You give awesome feedback. **

**I'm glad most of you liked the last chapter, here's what happens next :-)**

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Chapter 46 - Future Fears

Bella's POV

I almost jumped out of my skin when my cell phone rang with Edward's ringtone. My nerves had been on edge from the moment we left the house this morning. I knew James and Victoria were cunning and dangerous. I knew that the Pack were dangerous to vampires. I knew without a doubt that both the Pack and my new family could take care of themselves. All that knowledge didn't make my fear go away.

Since the moment we had left the Cullen house, my hands had constantly caressed the skin covering my precious children. My thoughts were not happy ones as I pictured what could happen when Edward and everyone else faced James and Victoria. My dark place was rearing its ugly head. A place I hadn't visited for quite a while. Not since Edward came into my life.

As soon as he left Charlie's house with Leah, my fears became more predominant. It wasn't that I didn't think Edward could take care of himself or that he would take any unnecessary risks, it was that I didn't trust James.

Charlie tried to comfort me the best he could as we left the house and headed out of town but my nerves were completely shot. I knew it wasn't good for the babies to be so stressed and I really tried to stay calm, but when that cell phone went off, I screamed.

"Bella, calm down. It's just Edward calling you."

"Hello"

"_It's done. You can come home now." _Edward's voice sounded a little off but I put it down to the stressful situation of the day.

I sighed with relief as I answered. "Okay, Dad is turning around right now. Should I come straight to the house or go to Dad's?"

"_Everyone's here at the house so if you Dad doesn't mind driving you here, it might be best. I want Carlisle to check you out."_

"Edward, I'm fine."

"_I know you probably are but any stress isn't good for you. So please indulge me and let Carlisle look at you?"_

I sighed again, this time with a small amount of aggravation. He was such a worrywart. Overprotective much? I loved him beyond death but his constant worrying was going to drive me insane by the time the "pups" were out in the real world. Yeah, okay, the nickname stuck. In actual fact, he was probably going to drive me nuts after that too. He will be protective of all of us then. I just wish he would realize that I am quite capable of protecting myself.

"Yes Edward. I'll let Carlisle check me out. It's about time for another sonogram anyway, he can do that at the same time." I felt Charlie look over at me when I spoke of the sonogram and decided to ask if he wanted to be in the room when it was done.

"_Thank you Bella. I love you."_

"I love you too. I'll see you in a few minutes."

After hanging up the phone, I turned to Charlie. "So. Uhm. Edward wants Carlisle to check me out when we get back to the house."

He nodded, indicating he'd managed to discern that much from my side of the conversation.

"Carlisle usually does a sonogram and I was wondering if you wanted to be in the room for it. Like, see the babies?" my voice was barely a whisper by the time I finished my question. I peered up through my eyelashes at him, hoping beyond hope he was willing to be a part of this part of my life.

I'd called my mother after Edward and I had met with Charlie. The conversation had gone surprisingly okay considering everything I told her. I guess the only thing she was slightly disagreeable about was the fact that she was becoming a grandmother to at least three grandchildren. She'd even took Edward being a vampire in stride. I was beginning to think that Renee knew much more about the supernatural world around Forks then she had first let me believe when my whole transformation started. It still hurt that she hadn't been forthcoming with what she knew before it had all started. Deliberately keeping that information from me even though she wasn't sure it would happen or not put a wall between us. A wall that was going to take some time to break down again.

With Charlie, I couldn't be mad at him about it. He wasn't with me all the time while I grew up. I only saw him for the sporadic visits he was able to make down in Arizona. I couldn't really blame him for not getting into something that would put a damper on our time together and he stood right up and took me in when I decided to come to Forks. He supported me however he could during my change and even now, despite his obvious misgivings about Edward and what he was he was supporting me.

The turmoil of my thoughts regarding Renee and Charlie seemed to cause the babies to become restless. I rubbed my hands over them in an attempt to sooth them, talking to them in my mind, hoping that the telepathic link that had started to develop more between us in the past week would help. I was glad that the link was there while I wasn't shifting. Carlisle felt that I shouldn't shift until the babies were born since we weren't sure how that would affect them. I was fine with that. It was hard sometimes, thinking about the times during training that Leah and I would just let loose and run through the reservation. The freedom we felt was unimaginable and I couldn't wait to be able to do it again.

I suddenly realized that Charlie had replied to me while my thoughts had gone off in random directions.

"Sorry Dad, my thoughts went off again. They seem to do that with greater frequency these days. You said something?" I glanced down and then back at him with a smirk.

He laughed. Really. He actually laughed. "Bella, you've always been like that most times. Anyway, I was saying that I would actually like to be there with you."

"Edward will be there. Just so you know Dad."

"I do realize that Bella. I'm trying to deal with my feelings on the situation. It was a lot to take in all at once." He smiled at me slightly as he said that last point.

"I know Dad, and I'm really grateful that you are taking it as well as you have. It makes a lot of this easier somehow. I know the Cullen's and the Pack are there to support me but it isn't the same as having my family there for me."

"Bella, I've always been here for you. No matter what happens, or what you do, I am your father. You could never to anything so bad that I would turn my back on you, ever."

I sat back in the seat, a warm mushy feeling settling in me. The babies seemed to sense my change of mood and settled down. Getting to the house took longer than I was used to since my father stuck to the speed limit all the way. As I watched the green of the forest go past the passenger's window, I thought back to the conversation with Edward. After he had brought up getting Carlisle to check me out, I realized I completely forgot to get any details on what happened. All he had said was 'it's done'. What exactly did that mean? Were James and Victoria dead? If so, why didn't he just say 'they're dead'? The closer we got to the house, the more a bad feeling was coming over to me.

I'd known going into the plan that Carlisle didn't really agree with killing other sentient beings, even if they might be dangerous. I really hoped that I was wrong.

We finally pulled into the driveway and I could see Edward waiting at the front door for me. As soon as the car stopped, I hurriedly tried to undo my seatbelt which decided to be completely uncooperative. Charlie ended up having to undo it for me and I rushed out of the car to throw myself into Edward's arms, kissing him exuberantly. A few minutes later, I heard a throat clear and turned to find my father standing a little behind us. Blushing, I hid my face against Edward's chest and giggled.

"Sorry Dad."

His return smile seemed a little forced and I could tell he wasn't exactly comfortable with being at the house. The door opened behind us and Carlisle walked outside. He smiled at us and held his hand out to Charlie. I could see Charlie shiver at the coldness of Carlisle's hand but he showed no other reaction to shaking the hand of a vampire. I was proud of him.

I looked up at Edward and noticed something in his eyes that had me a little concerned.

"So what happened? Are they dead?" I asked, deciding to acknowledge the elephant standing beside us, glancing between Edward and Carlisle.

Carlisle looked away as Edward replied, sending a glare towards his father. "No, they aren't. James was offered a choice. Die or leave and never come near any of us again. Carlisle told him that he had one chance only. If he broke the agreement, the Volturi would be notified of his location and he knows what they will do to him. Apparently Victoria was under the impression that the problems with the Volturi had been dealt with a while ago. She wasn't too pleased to hear that they were still after James."

"Wait a damn minute! Are you telling me you had both of them within your grasp and YOU LET THEM GO?!?" I could feel my temperature rising, a sure sign I was losing my temper and could phase on a second's notice.

I felt Edward's hands grip my neck, turning me towards him, forcing my eyes to meet his. I tried to focus on the love and concern I saw there but I could feel my rage rising from deep down. My ears were ringing, I could barely hear Edward's voice.

"Breathe Bella. You can't shift. Think of the babies."

One word penetrated my brain. Babies. I had to think of my babies. I couldn't shift. My hands raised of their own volition to grab at his shoulders, thankful that he wasn't human. I was pretty sure that my grip was painful even to him. I sucked in air until my lungs felt ready to burst, slowly letting it out. I did it again. And again. I could feel Edward caressing my hair, pulling me towards him to engulf my body in his arms.

"I told you it was a bad idea Carlisle!" I could hear the edge in his voice as he spoke to his father.

I felt another set of hands on my back, Charlie trying to help calm me down. While I appreciated his efforts greatly, I didn't want him hurt if I lost control. In a tight quiet voice, I asked Carlisle to please take my father into the house.

As soon as I heard the door close behind them, my body started to shake. I could feel Edwards arms tighten around me as he tried to calm me down, whispering in my ear and rubbing his hands over my body.

"Why Edward? Why would Carlisle do this? He knows. He knows that James won't leave us alone. Why?"

I could feel Edward take a huge breath, his fingers temporarily digging into the muscles in my back, as I'm sure he recalled his feelings over this. "I really don't know Bella. He changed his mind at the last moment so I wasn't even aware he was going to do this."

I could feel myself starting to calm down. Being angry and being a shape-shifter just didn't mix very well. It was like being the Incredible Hulk and living the line from the old TV show, "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry", every single second of the day. Bad things could happen to those around me when I shifted while angered. Not to mention that I wasn't supposed to shift while still pregnant. I had to really control my volatile emotions right now and Carlisle's actions were not helping matters any. Thank the gods that I had Edward, he had a way of calming me just by his touch. This time, however, it too a few moments longer than usual.

"What are we going to do? Do we have to leave here? Where could we go that James couldn't find us?"

"I don't think we have to leave. It's safer to be here near the family and the Pack than out on our own. James is too good of a tracker to not find us if he really wanted to. I am hoping the fear of the Volturi will keep him away. Victoria seemed surprised that they were still after him so he might be in a fair amount of trouble from his mate at this time to even think of coming after you in the near future. She seems like a force to be reckoned with when crossed."

"I am so tired of this Edward. Why can't we just be together, be happy and look forward to having our babies born? Why does this loser have to become fixated on me? It is not enough that he has his mate?"

"I don't know Bella." I could feel his lips move against my hair and change to a smirk as he continued talking. "But I can make sure nothing hurts you or our pups." His hand moved from my back around to caress my stomach.

I reached up and lightly smacked the back of his head, which had both of us laughing. Yeah, NCIS was one of our favourite TV shows. Once again, Edward was the voice of reason and love. I really didn't know how I existed before he came into my life. He told me before that he didn't believe in destiny or fate but how could you doubt their existence when we came together as we did?

"I really will kill Emmett for starting that nickname." We both laughed, knowing I wasn't serious.

I reached up and kissed Edward's chin and hugged him tightly before turning towards the front door. "We should go in and talk to Charlie. Explain what just happened and get on with the sonogram you insisted on."

"That might be a good idea since he keeps coming to the door and looking out the window at us."

We explained the reason that I asked Carlisle to get Charlie away from me and the babies checked out just fine, even given the stress I was under. My father was a little thrilled to actually see them on the screen and Carlisle printed off a picture of his own to take with him. The surprise of the night was that one more heartbeat had showed up about three minutes into the ultrasound. Carlisle's best guess was that it was hiding behind the others on the last sonogram we did. So now we had four names to come up with. It was too early to find out what they were but at the rate they were growing, Carlisle didn't think it would be too much longer before we did find out. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know or not.

Charlie decided to stay and eat with me before heading to the station for a short evening shift promising to give us a call if anything out of the ordinary happened, like a body showing up drained of blood, meaning that James would still be in the area.

Edward and I went upstairs shortly after my father left. I'd managed to be cordial to Carlisle while my father was in the house but didn't feel up to the task of pretending any longer once he was gone.

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**Thanks for all the name suggestions!**

Posted on March 27, 2010

**Words: 2831**


	48. Passing Time, Chapter 47

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

* * *

**Happy Reading Everyone!**

**Welcome to all you new readers! It gives me the warm & fuzzies when I see a new Favourite Alert in my inbox! And I greatly appreciated the reviews! You give awesome feedback. **

**Here's a short chapter from Edward. Hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Chapter 4 – Passing Time

Edward's POV

As I stood on the front porch, holding Bella tightly in my arms, my mind was fuming.

I knew it. I just fucking knew it. I knew that she would hit the roof as soon as she found out what Carlisle had done. If only I'd known what he was planning on doing but through years of practice my family had all acquired ways to keep me out of their minds. At times like this, it was a complete pain in the ass. I was completely and utterly amazed that I'd been able to calm her down from shifting once she found out what he'd done. He should have known that her reaction could have been dangerous to her and her pregnancy. He'd already told her quite strongly that she couldn't shift until the babies were born and what does he do, he fucking does something to piss her off so much, she almost shifts. She wasn't the only one that was pissed off. I wanted James ripped apart, in several pieces for all the fear and tension he'd put us through the last weeks. I wanted it to be done. Over. Finished. I wanted to know for a fact that James would never come near her again. How dare Carlisle make this decision on his own without a single word to any of us. I didn't believe that it was over with James. He was much too fixated on Bella and too haywire to keep his word on the agreement with Carlisle. Victoria may or may not be still in the picture from her reaction that the Volturi still had James on their hit list. Something he'd neglected to keep her in the loop on.

I kept Bella close to my side as we went into the house to talk to her father about what had just happened and why. Bella allowed Carlisle to do the sonogram, answering his question as minimally as possible. I couldn't even really look at him right now. I was still so disappointed by his actions.

As soon as Charlie left, we headed up to our room. Bella was not in any emotional condition to pretend to be okay with the situation and I wasn't up to the pretense either. The whole family was on edge and the stressful atmosphere wasn't helping Bella remain calm.

We snuggled in bed until Bella fell asleep, the emotions of the day taking their toll on her physically. Once I knew she was deeply under, I snuck downstairs to talk with everyone.

I ran into Esme first who grabbed me into a tight hug and whispered sorry in her mind. I hugged her back, letting her know I knew it wasn't her fault.

"How's Bella?"

"Sleeping for now. But she's really angry and very hurt but what Carlisle did. I'm not too sure she will forgive him easily."

"I know. He didn't say a single word to me or I would have given you both a head's up."

I talked with Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie but avoided Carlisle for now. I was afraid what would come out of my mouth would be too hurtful to get past if I talked to him right away.

Everyone agreed that we shouldn't let our guard down regarding James and I let everyone know that I was going to talk with the Pack as soon as possible. I was sure that Bella would want to make sure everyone was on the same page and to be careful.

It was a couple of hours before I made it back up into my room where Bella was still sleeping. Sleep became so critical to her well being after she completed her transformation but even more so with her pregnancy. As my thoughts wandered to our children .. FOUR of them as we learned today .. I was overwhelmed by the feelings that coursed through me.

I paused, my hand on the knob of my bedroom door. Our children. Another reason Bella would be stressed over Carlisle's actions today. She would spend the rest of her pregnancy just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I felt the growl start low in my as my thoughts went to James again.

"Edward?"

Damn. Miss Super Ears.

I put a smile on my face and opened the door. Bella was sitting up in our bed, a puzzled look on her face.

"Why were you growling? Did something happen? Did you hear something? Are the babies okay?" The questions came out in rapid fire as I walked towards the bed.

"Nothing is wrong. I was just thinking about what Carlisle did."

"Oh.

"Let's forget about it for the moment. We know James is out of the area for now. The Pack was going to escort him and Victoria away. How about we take a trip to Port Angeles for dinner? I know you enjoy the ravioli from that restaurant we went to. What do you think?"

Her face lit up. The thought of enjoying an evening away from everyone and all the stress seemed to brighten her mood quite a bit.

We lay on the bed for a while, talking quietly with each other and the babies, enjoying the few moments of peace we currently had. We talked about names but couldn't come to any sort of decision. We had time though and since we didn't know the sexes of the babies yet, we decided to start a list of ones we liked until we did. The only thing we could agree on was that middle names would be taken from our parents' first names. We both hoped there would be two boys and two girls to make in nice and even.

Even though I could hear the babies' voices, there was no differentiation between gender in my head. It was actually quite frustrating. Almost as frustrating as not being able to fully read Bella's mind. The mating / imprinting aspect of our relationship had helped somewhat but it would never be quite like being able to read everyone else's minds.

We decided to head into Port Angeles near 5pm for dinner. It was great to go out without looking over our shoulders, for the moment anyway. Dinner was relaxing. Fortunately, no one we knew was in the area. We strolled down past Bella's favourite bookstore afterwards where she stocked up on new books. We made one more stop at the music store before talking a walk through the park. Heading home, Bella asked if we could stop by Charlie's before heading back to the house after making a call to ensure he'd be home.

Spending a couple of hours with Charlie was good for Bella. She had calmed down quite a bit and after talking with her dad, she started to see things from Carlisle's point of view. Given his beliefs, it was the only way he felt he could deal with the situation. We left Charlie to his game after our talk and headed home. Bella wasn't ready to talk to Carlisle yet so when we saw his car in the garage, we decided to go up the back stairs to my room.

It was nice to crawl into bed with Bella, holding her tightly in my arms and just being for a while. No one around, no worries for the moment. Just us. We needed this time. The babies were quiet tonight, as if they knew their mom need some down time. That thought brought about the fact that I would soon be the father of 4 half vampire half shape shifter children. The very thought brought my being to a screaming halt. Was I going to be able to do this? Could I be a good father to them? I knew Bella was going to make a wonderful mother. Of that I had absolutely no doubts. But me? I had a whole boat load full of doubts. This was the last thing that I'd ever thought I'd be doing. When I was changed, I thought my dreams of a wife and children were completely out of the question.

I'd been one of those guys. The guy that dreamed of a house full of kids and a strong woman by my side. The guy that would propose as soon as decently possible. When I became sick, I thought those dreams were done. When I was changed, I knew they were done. Now I had the opportunity to be a father and a husband and I really couldn't seem to begin to process the magnitude of it.

These past few weeks had been all about James and Victoria and the danger they represented. The babies were there on the fringe of my mind for the most part, not central where I would start to be consumed by the thought. Now, the opposite was true. All I could think about was the babies. Bella's body was changing almost daily now. We were approaching Christmas soon and we had to think about if Bella would be going back after break or starting the home schooling we discussed. Even with the fact that she was going to have quadruplets, there would be no way to explain why she would be getting so big so fast. She would also be getting more fatigued as the weeks went by.

My mind kept going all night about the future. I was never so glad to see the sunrise as I was that morning.

Bella awoke well rested and in better spirits than the day before. We spent the day alone in my room and headed over to meet Charlie at the diner for dinner during his break. We hadn't seen my family since we had left the house the day before and I knew that they were giving Bella some space to come to terms with the fact that James was still out there somewhere.

Time passed as we went to school, had the sonograms every few days and got ready for the holiday season and the upcoming expansion of our little family. The babies were doing great. Their telepathic skills were You don't think that with super-shopper Alice around that we would be able to not celebrate Christmas did you. She was almost as obsessed with getting gifts as receiving them. She had four more to buy for this year, even though they weren't even here yet as well as Bella. She was going to make sure that they didn't want for anything.

Bella's expanding girth was making it more cumbersome to get up and down the stairs to my room so Esme made up a room on the ground floor for us to stay in. It was large enough to hold all the baby paraphernalia that started to accumulate as well. Alice didn't bother to wrap that stuff, it just started to show up to Bella's horror. She hated gifts but since they weren't technically for her, she couldn't talk Alice out of buying them. It was a constant bone of contention between us. I couldn't fathom why she felt that by giving her gifts that I was somehow making our relationship uneven. Didn't she realize that she was giving me a gift beyond comprehension by having our children? I could give her thousands of gifts and they wouldn't come even close to the gift she was giving me. I couldn't make her see that though. She relented enough to let me give her one gift for Christmas but insisted that anything else I purchased must be for the babies and I reluctantly agreed. It wasn't that I was against getting gifts for them, it would have just been nice to spoil Bella for a change.

The family was hoping that the pack would be included in the festivities at the house but I wasn't sure how realistic that was. I hadn't seen Leah since the meeting in the clearing although Bella talked with the Pack on a regular basis on the phone. Not many of them were comfortable being around the rest of the family, they just tolerated me for Bella's sake. I thought it a little strange how they were all staying away from us but didn't think too much about it amongst all the other stuff going on around use. It wasn't until the first weekend of Christmas break from school that we actually saw the Pack again face to face

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**Thanks for all the name suggestions!**

Posted on April 8, 2010

**Words: 2214**


	49. News of James, Chapter 48

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

* * *

**Happy Reading Everyone!**

**Welcome to all you new readers! It gives me the warm & fuzzies when I see a new Favourite Alert in my inbox! And I greatly appreciated the reviews! You give awesome feedback. **

* * *

Chapter 48 – News of James Bella's POV

It took a long time before I could even look at Carlisle. Every time I eve though of talking to him, my body would start to shake and Edward would have to quickly remove me from the room.

Esme watched with pain filled eyes every time it happened. I knew she was sorry that he had chosen to disregard my feelings in the matter of James but it didn't help all that much. Everyone was sorry. Everyone with the exception of Carlisle. He hadn't even made the attempt to apologize for his choice.

After Edward and I had visited my dad after dinner that night, I could somewhat see Carlisle's point of view stemming from his experiences and beliefs. I still felt that he could have talked to me ahead of time and given me the chance to come to terms with his decision instead of being slapped in the face with it after the fact.

I kept it together though, even when the fear and anger were almost overwhelming. I thought only of my children. Protecting them was the foremost important thing of my existence right now. My four beloved children. They were still communicating with both Edward and I but we were still unable to tell the sexes of them. We started listing names that we liked. Agreeing for sure only that each one would have the middle names of our parents.

My body was going through tons of changes as my pregnancy progressed. The cravings were getting stranger and stranger but Edward had no problems in tracking down anything I craved, no matter where he had to go.

As I got bigger, it was getting difficult for me to maneuver up and down the stairs to Edward's bedroom so Esme created one downstairs for us. It was quite large and there would be plenty of room for the babies once they arrived.

The problem with the room?

It was beginning to look like a baby boutique. Everyday things would arrive via delivery service from all over the place and I knew exactly who to thank when something arrived. Alice.

The strange thing was that not only Alice was excited about the babies coming, Rosalie was as well. It was completely bizarre to me since Rose had never been all that warm to me.

Edward always told me that she had reasons for the way she felt but it wasn't his story to tell. Maybe someday she would be willing to tell me her story. Until then, I tried to be as friendly as possible.

I had to put an end to Alice's extravagance expenditures. She knew how I felt about gifts even if they weren't for me. I realized everyone was excited and although I appreciated it all, enough was enough. She pouted for a while but soon got over it. She realized Christmas was coming soon and that was all she needed to divert her attention away from buying every baby item in the world.

As the weeks passed, I soon realized that with the way the babies were growing and how huge I was getting, I would only be going to school up to the beginning of Christmas break. I would have to stay home and do the work from home after that. It was going to be lonely being home with everyone else tending school. There was no way that everyone could quite school without making things even stranger than they already were.

I was wearing the baggiest clothes that Alice would let me leave the house wearing but it would soon be too obvious. I was getting too many strange looks and Alice cringed more and more every time she saw me. Among her purchases she had included maternity clothes and was desperate for me to start wearing them.

The close Christmas came, the more I realized that I hadn't done any more than talk to Leah and Jake over the phone. Every time I suggested getting together, they would come up with some excuse that didn't quite ring true. The Pack had also been conspicuously absent from around town since the meeting with James had happened. I was getting the distinct impression that they were all avoiding me along with everyone I knew.

I decided that on the first weekend of Christmas break, I was going to find out just what the hell was going on with the Pack.

Edward didn't really see anything amiss but it was hard to explain to him just what being a part of the pack felt like. It was almost the same connection he had with his family but more so. It was on a cellular level.

It was closer than family but not as close as imprinting or mating like with Edward. With Edward and I, it felt like we shared the same life force, like we were two halves of a whole.

I tried to explain how much I missed them but since most Vampires were solitary creatures even if they belonged to a coven, it was difficult for him to completely comprehend. He might not agree with chasing after the Pack instead of letting them come to us when they were ready, but all he wanted was for me to be happy so he agreed to drive me out to the Reservation on the first Saturday of the break.

We showed up at Billy's house unannounced to find no one there. I called Charlie to see if he knew where everyone was but all he could tell me was that Billy' had mentioned some sort of trip. He'd forgotten to tell me. Puzzled, I left a note for Lean and we went home. It was more obvious than before that something was definitely going on with them. Alice couldn't even help since the Pack's futures were blocked from her sight.

I tried to occupy my time during the week by organizing all the baby paraphernalia the Alice and Rose had purchased. It was sort of funny to watch Emmett and Edward try to assemble the cribs without following the instructions. Vampire or not, men just didn't seem to want to use perfectly good instruction sheets. After watching them assemble and disassemble the first crib three times, Rosalie threw them both out of the room and had all four cribs done within an hour. To say that the boys were disgruntled about being out done by a girl was putting it mildly.

Alice and Esme finished decorating the house for Christmas and even put up a Christmas tree. Invitations were extended to Charlie and the Pack to come over on Christmas Eve for a get together. I wasn't sure how receptive the Pack would be but Charlie said he'd be there.

I still hadn't hear from Leah two days after I knew they were back from the trip they'd gone on so I talked Edward into going back to Billy's house again to take over the invitations. This time, I didn't say anything to my father.

The instant Billy opened the door, I knew something serious had happened. The minds of everyone in the room were tense. They'd been hiding something during the time they'd avoided the Cullens and me.

They'd killed James

Tears started pouring down my face as I walked through the door and saw most of the Pack standing around the room.

"How? Why?"

Leah stepped toward me and engulfed me into a firece hug. Edward stood by my side, stunned at the news. I was slowyly maneuvered to sit on the couch and Leah turned to face me. Edward sat behind me, putting his arms around my wasit and fanning his hands over my stomach.

"We tried to stay away so you wouldn't find out. We weren't sure if you were in on the decision to let him go or not. We didn't want to upset you if you were."

"No!" I practically screamed. "That was all Carlisle's doing. Both Edward and I were completely surprised and shocked when that happened."

Leah sighed. "I wish I'd known that. I've really missed you."

I took in a shaky breath. "I did too. So what happened?"

Edward had sat still and silent but tensed as he waited for the reply. Apparently, the Pack were blocking his ability to read them at the moment.

"As the boys were escorting James and Victoria out of the region, Victoria made it quite clear that she wanted nothing more to do with him. I guess she wasn't happy with his lying to her about just how much trouble he was in. She took off before we reached the border. After that, James became increasingly hostile, trying to get away from us. We weren't sure if he was trying to go after Victoria or come back after you. We couldn't take the chance.. When he went too far and pissed Paul, we didn't really intervene. Paul tore him apart."

Edward's arms tightened around me as I let go of the breath I hadn't realized that I'd been holding.

"He's dead."

Leah grabbed my hands and squeezed. "Yes, he's dead."

I shifted my eyes around the room until they landed on Paul. Edwards arms fell away as I stood up, my eyes locked onto Paul. I slowly made my way across the room to stand in front of him. Hoping I wasn't overstepping comfort zone, I reached out and put my arms around his waist, muttering a soft "thank you" into his chest.

His arms hesitantly encircled my shoulders. I could feel Edwards eyes upoin us as Paul whispered "You're welcome" in return.

I let go of Paul and made my way back to Edward. I could feel the tension coming off of him in waves, the possessive nature of our mating coming to the forefront when I hugged Paul. The tension eased from him as soon as I was near him again. With the exceptions of Charlie, Carlisle, Emmett and Jasper, Edward was not comfortable having me near others of the male species. It was one of the more obvious differences between our mating on his side and our imprinting on mine.

Vampire mating seemed to be highly volatile and emotional. The connection was primal and jealousies ran high. Wolf imprinting was just as emotional but the connection is so bound to our thoughts and soul that there is no room for jealousies. I knew beyond a doubt that Edward would never look at another woman, ever. Although he knew in his head that I would never want or need another man, his emotions ran too close to the surface where I was concerned and I tired to make sure I took that into account whenever Edward and I were around the pack.

Before my transformation, I knew that there would have been no way that would ever feel worthy of Edward's love and being with him. I would have always felt our relationship was out of balance. My view of him was probably not really realistic but to me he was perfect. At least with both of us being supernatural beings, we were on an even footing and we could be together for an eternity as long as I shifted into my wolf form.

I knew that we were going to be okay now that James was no longer a threat. It was like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I could now concentrate all my energy on Edward and our children. School would fit in there somewhere I guess.

Edward and I left a couple of hours after finding out the news of James. For once, the visit to La Push ended on a happy note. Leah, Jake and Billy had agreed to join the family for Christmas Eve. I wasn't too sure who else might show up but I was happy that they would at least.

As we started to pull away from the reservation, I turned toward Edward, vocalizing the thoughts I was sure we shared, "Are we going to tell Carlisle what happened?"

"I think we should. He should know that James is dead."

"Okay. I just don't want him to angry with Paul. James was stupid to push him. Do you think Victoria will be a problem?"

Honestly, I don't think so. I read her mind when we confronted James. She wasn't impressed by both his obsession with you or his lying to her. I think she had already decided she was done with him when they left here."

I sighed. Edward looked at me quizzically.

"I just can't believe its over. He's gone."

Edward nodded. "I does feel a little strange to think there's nothing hanging over our heads."

We pulled up to the house an sat in the car for a few minutes.

"You ready?" I asked.

"Sure. Let's do it."

We found Carlisle in his study and filled him in on the news. He nodded sadly at the end.

"I should have seen it but I really hoped fear would be a motivator for him. I know you both feel I was wrong in making the decision I did, but I just couldn't bring myself to order his execution. Everyone deserves a chance to turn their life around."

I nodded. "Most do. Some don't. James was one of the latter. What upset me the most was that you didn't talk to either Edward or I. We should have been consulted. I should have been consulted. I was the one he was after. If it weren't for my pregnancy, I would have killed him myself. You choice caused undue stress for me that I shouldn't have had to deal with."

Carlisle sat looking at me silently for a few minutes. I felt Edward's hand reach over to grasp mine and squeeze gently.

"You're right. I didn't take your feelings into account and for that I will be eternally sorry."

I smiled at Carlisle for the first time in weeks. I could forgive him now that the threat was over but I no longer trusted him to do what was best for me and mine. It would take a long time for him to regain that. If he ever did.

We excused ourselves to go find the other and let them know about James. Emmett was a little pissed off that a wolf got to have all the fun but the rest were just happy to have it over with.

Christmas turned out to be a happy and exciting event. It snowed so everyone excluding me, had a snowball fight in the backyard. Edward and I built a snowman and dressed him like a hippie with some of Emmett's old clothes from the attic. Alice almost died of laughter when she saw it.

Leah, Jacob and Billy came to the party dragging Seth, Paul, Qul and Embry with them. It was setup outside since none of us were bothered by the cold and it was more comfortable for all involved.

I stayed at home after the holiday break and I missed Edward so much I couldn't stand it most days. I stayed with the Cullens due to the uncertainly of my pregnancy and my dad visited every chance he got. Between schoolwork, setting up the baby stuff and pouring through tons of baby names, Edward and I texted every chance we got. Carlisle estimated my due date at around the end of March.

Edward and I were lying in bed one night about a month after Christmas when we both jumped, startled by voices we both heard.

The babies had named themselves!

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**Thanks for all the name suggestions!**

Posted on April 15, 2010

**Words: 2732**


	50. TImes Apart, Chapter 49

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

**Happy Reading Everyone!**

**Welcome to all you new readers! It gives me the warm & fuzzies when I see a new Favourite Alert in my inbox! And I greatly appreciated the reviews! You give awesome feedback. **

Chapter 49 – Times Apart

Edward's POV

The news of James' death lifted the weight of the world off of my shoulders. I knew, however, everything would not be as it was before between Carlisle and us.

He had broken our trust. Bella said she forgave him but I couldn't even come close to saying those words to him.

Christmas was a happy event now that there was no danger around Alice was so excited that she flitted around like a pixie on speed. It was actually quite amusing. I hadn't seen the family this excited about something in so many years that I'd lost track.

The first month back to school was horrendous. I missed Bella. It was so bad that I even considered quitting and staying home with her. Bella and Esme talked me out of it. It would cause suspicion if I did that. It wasn't that the town didn't realize that supernatural events happened in the vicinity, it was just that they chose not to acknowledge it. Anything that pointed out what they were trying to avoid would not be a good thing. If I left school too, too many of our fellow students would question why and they would just get way too nosy.

I suffered through it much to the exasperation of my siblings. I was miserable and I didn't let them forget it. I can be a pretty angsty vampire when I wanted to be. My moods were even bringing down the perky Alice.

Evenings were spent with Bella. She loved for me to catch her up on all the school's gossip. She caught me up on her day and every move and twitch the babies made. The connection between her and them was growing stronger as well. She could hear more of their random thoughts as they grew.

One of the things I knew she had been doing was to scour the Internet for baby names to make lists of ones she liked. We'd sit in our room before going to bed and see which ones we both liked.

Even though I didn't sleep, lying in our bed, holding Bella in my arms while she did was one of my favourite times of the day. The other was when she first woke up in the morning. It took everything in me to force myself to leave the house in the morning before she was awake. I knew that if I stayed to watch her awaken, I'd never leave.

Weekends were my favourite now. I loved to watch as she took stock of everything around her as she lay with her eyes closed. The way her nose wrinkled and he body shivered as she shook off the last remnants of sleep. Her eyes would slowly open as she turned her head towards me when I moved my hand caressingly over her belly. Her eyes lit up and she would lean up for a kiss. Of course, I would happily oblige.

One night we discovered that the babies were much more aware than we thought possible. We were just hanging in our room while the others had gone hunting, taking the opportunity of a quiet house to spend some quality time together.

I loved my family to pieces but sometimes they could be really overly intense sometimes.

We were taken by surprise and we both jumped, startled to hear the voices in both of our minds at the same time.

It seemed that our children had become impatient, deciding to name themselves from the names that they had heard us discuss. Four very distinct voices rang out, two girls and two boys. Ciara Esme, Elisabeth Renee, Edward Charles, and finally Aiden Carlisle.

We looked at each other and down at her stomach in shock. I was pretty sure that the look on my face was what I saw mirrored on Bella's.

"You heard that right?"

She nodded slowly as her eyes moved back down and her hand reached down to splay over them.

"I did. Holy shit! What else are they going to be able to do?"

"I'm not sure Bella. Apparently my mind reading abilities and your link with the Pack have merged into something a lot stronger within them."

"Do you think it will just be with us and the Pack once they're born? Or do you think they will be completely telepathic?"

"It's a possibility. There hasn't been children born of Vampires and Shape-shifters before so this will be completely unknown territory and no map to follow."

""Are we truly prepared for this Edward? I mean, you never thought you'd have kids at all and I never dreamed I'd be "that girl". The one that got pregnant in high school that is."

I chuckled at where her mind was going, "It's a little too late to change anything now Bella."

She scowled and hit my shoulder with some force, "I know that! I'm just saying, are we really ready for this? I'm getting a little scared now. They're going to be here soon."

I pulled her body close to mine and rubbed her back gently. "You're not the only one that's scared Bella. I've never really had anything to do with children, especially since being turned. This is beyond scary for me. I don't know what to expect when they're born."

We lay there for several moments just drawing comfort from each other. I felt her sigh and asked what it was for.

"I guess now all I can do is schoolwork and wait for them to get here." She laughed. "Apparently we suck at picking out names."

I laughed with her. "Apparently we do."

"Edward?"

"Yes, Bella?"

"Would you play the piano for us?"

I grinned down at her and picked her up in my arms, carrying her to the piano. "Of course, I definitely will. What would they like me to play?"

"I think anything you choose will be fine."

I watched her relax on the sofa near the piano as I started to play, her hands fanning over her stomach caressingly. She closed her eyes and seemed to absorb the music as I played.

I wasn't sure how much time passed before I realized she was sound asleep. I carried her back to bed and spent the rest of the night watching her and listening to our children talk to each other. I hadn't told Bella about that aspect of their abilities. I wasn't sure how connected she was with them at the moment and didn't want her to feel left out of the loop.

The days passed quickly, each one much the same as the one before it. We told the family the chosen names and sexes of the babies when they'd returned from hunting that day and of course, Alice had gone monogram crazy as a result. I don't think there was a single item in our room that wasn't at this point. There would be no doubt on what belonged to who when they arrived.

I was sitting in English class one morning when an unheralded screeching went through my mind, making me wince in pain. Alice was totally freaking out but her mind was in such a tizzy that I couldn't make heads or tails what the hell the problem was. I didn't hear anything distressful in Jasper, Emmett or Rosalie's thoughts so whatever it was it wasn't life threatening. I barely made it through the next hour without losing a little sanity however.

She was standing outside the classroom door as soon as the bell rang a look of horror on her face.

"EDWARD!" she screamed in her mind, grabbing my arm a little painfully.

"Alice, use your words." I reached out to touch her face, hoping Jazz showed up soon to calm her down.

I no sooner thought it when Jasper appeared at her side and I felt the death grip she had on me ease up.

"What's the matter Alice? What's wrong? I could feel your emotions clear across the school for the past hour!" Jasper was doing his best to calm her while trying not to panic himself.

"Edward! What is the date?!?!?"

Jazz and I exchanged puzzled looks as I answer her. "February 10th?"

"YES! February 10th! You have FOUR DAYS!"

She was really starting to annoy me now." Er. Four days for what exactly?"

She smacked me on the forehead and huffed. "Are you completely clueless Edward? What the hell do you think! Valentine's day!"

"And?" I kept my face relaxed while I waited for her response. At this point, I'd figured out where her drama was coming from and I couldn't help but pull her leg. She was so worked up over this that her precognition wasn't even working. It only happened sporadically but it made for much amusement when it did.

I could see her body start to vibrate and Jasper started glaring at me. I could almost feel the energy he was exerting to prevent Alice from going off like an nuclear bomb right in the middle of the school hallway.

"EDWARD!"

I broke at that point. I couldn't stop the grin forming and the laughter welling up my throat.

"It's okay Alice. I know what day is coming up. I was just kidding with you."

I guess that wasn't the best thing to say since now she just glared at me, huffed and stormed off.

"Thanks dude." Jasper grunted at me as he left to follow her.

Grinning, I headed to my next class, which I knew I was going to be late for. My opinion of school hadn't changed since Bella stopped coming. It just sucked. Especially given that the girls figured I was once again fair game even knowing that I was still with Bella whether she was here or not. The thoughts that went through their minds were utterly disgusting to me. The things they wanted me to do to them gave me shivers. I kept to myself more than I did before Bella came into my life, dreading each day I had to be here.

Talking with Alice reminded me that I had to speak to Esme and Carlisle about my Valentine's plans with Bella. I knew that some of my birth mother's jewelry was still in the safe in the study and although I wasn't allowed to buy Bella gifts, she couldn't turn down an heirloom, could she? I hoped not. I wanted to give her something special.

I got through the rest of the day avoiding the skanks to the best of my ability. The worse it got, the more difficult time I was having keeping their actions away from Bella. The link between us got stronger every day and I was afraid of her reaction when she caught wind of their thoughts towards me. She knew there was no way that I could do anything with any of them, our link guaranteed that and even without it, I would never willingly touch any of them.

Since Emmett had brought his jeep to school that day, I headed to the hospital to talk to Carlisle by myself. I wanted to let him know about the advancement of the telepathy between the babies, Bella and I while I had some time before heading home. Alice had informed me that she was taking Bella shopping again when she got home so I had a few hours to kill. I wasn't sure what Alice thought there was left to buy but as long as Bella was going with her willingly, I wasn't going to say anything. I knew she was getting a little stir crazy while we were all gone during the day.

My Valentine's plans for Bella weren't really excessive. I knew she didn't like a lot of fuss or anything but I wanted it to be special. It was our first together. It still amazed me that so much had happened in such a short period of time. Within months, I'd met the love of my life, my mate and I was going to become a father. The thought still scared me. When Bella asked if we were ready for this, I was torn on how to answer her. I was scared spitless about being responsible for four young lives but I was excited at the thought at the same time.

I wondered if this miracle was going to happen again too. Was it a one shot deal or was there actually the possibility that we would have more in the future. I yanked my thoughts back from that avenue quickly. It was enough to have what I did right now without wishing for more. Since we had no idea what the babies were going to be like as far as vampiric or shape-shifter abilities went, I didn't want to push my luck or my sanity too far.

My chat with Carlisle ended with us both leaving the hospital at the same time. He let me go through Bella's file with him on the progression of the pregnancy. The babies were all doing well and he was completely fascinated by the telepathy that they all exhibited.

We got home just as Alice and Bella arrived, weighed down with bags upon bags of purchases. I watched, fascinated as Bella walked towards me and moved her body up against my own. She had the power to bring me to my knees with a look and her touch literally melted me. I kissed her deeply while I reached for the bags she was carrying with one hand, the other going around her waist to assist her into the house.

I greeted Alice over my shoulder as I escorted Bella down the hall to our room. I'd arranged for Esme to put out some food for Bella and wanted to make sure she ate well before retiring for the night.

"Good night all!" She yelled back at everyone while laughing at me. "Apparently we'e going to our room.".

**Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! **

Posted on April 30, 2010

**Words: 2454**


	51. Mom, Chapter 50

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

**Happy Reading Everyone!**

**Welcome to all you new readers! It gives me the warm & fuzzies when I see a new Favourite Alert in my inbox! And I greatly appreciated the reviews! You give awesome feedback. **

**So sorry for the delay in updating What If, I had a very sick furkid who I had to let go of on May 8****th****. She was just over 13 and half years old and I'd had her since she was 6 wks old. She had been my constant companion since the day she came into my life and I miss her terribly.**

Chapter 50 - Mom

Bella's POV

I let Edward usher me to our room, actually happy to be with him again and out of the pixie's hands. Shopping was more of a chore now that I felt like a hippo but at least it was a reason to get out of the house. I was pretty positive getting out of the house was going to be more difficult for the next month and half or so. I was just hoping that Carlisle prediction of a due date was close. As much as I loved knowing that I was carrying Edward's children, I was pretty done being pregnant. I couldn't fathom how normal human women could handle 9 months of this shit. The soreness, the cravings, the restlessness were all getting to me more and more. Spending most of the time sleeping was becoming a pain too. I wanted to spend time with Edward awake not dead to the world.

My eyes lit up at the amount of food that had been left in our room courtesy of Esme. I knew Edward was behind the request, he'd been making sure I had plenty to eat and sleep these days. I grinned at him, kissed him ferociously and dove into the food. I was ravenous after the day I'd had running all over hell and back.

Once that hunger was satisfied, I washed up in our ensuite and returned to find Edward reclining on our bed. I waddled over and hefted myself up next to him, cuddling into his body.

I could feel Edward's arms surround me as I tucked my face into his shoulder. His hand caressed my back soothingly. His touch always eased me.

Making a decision, I moved my body to straddle his legs and showered his neck with soft kisses, following down his chest as my hands undid button after button of his shirt. A moan rumbled through him as I licked at his nipples. I felt his hands move into my hair as he held my head in place for a moment before he pulled me up to kiss my lips.

I quickly gave him access to deepen our kiss, feeling our mutual passion igniting quickly. He pulled back to look at me enquiringly. It had been a while since we'd been intimate. I knew what he was asking and I nodded quickly, giving him the okay to continue. I'd already asked Carlisle about it and he'd given us the thumbs up as long as I was comfortable.

I sighed into his mouth as he once again kissed me, my hands automatically moving to fist his hair, feeling him harden against him.

Pictures flashed between our minds as we slowly and lovingly explored each other's bodies. Clothing seemed to melt away as our senses heightened to an excruciating level.

I breathed in his scent as I kissed my way down his chest, causing him to writhe with the sensations I was invoking within him.

Before I could get and closer to my destination, Edward suddenly grabbed me and flipped us around so that I was now looking up into his beautiful golden eyes. He smiled down at me before moving down my body and caressing my breast with his lips and tongue. My back instinctually arched at the sensations of his tongue brushing against my nipples. They hardened further as I felt his breath against them.

I could feel the wetness between my legs grow with each caress on my body. I reached down to try and take him in my hand, needing to touch him but be moved himself just slightly out of my reach.

"Not yet my love. I'm afraid I won't last if I let you touch me right now."

I huffed in annoyance before I replied, "I need to feel you Edward. Please. I need you in me, right now!"

He smiled, kissed me and shifted our bodies so he was lying behind me. The best possible position given my pregnancy. His hand caressed my breasts, his lips kissed my neck as I felt him close to my core. My eyes drifted closed and I sighed in pleasure as I felt him enter me. I pushed back against him as his fingers pulled gently at my nipples. I moved one hand down to where our bodies were joined, caressing him as he moved in and out of me. I heard his breath catch as his body reacted to my touch.

My breath was coming faster and faster as the tension became so great. It felt like my body was about to fly apart.

His fingers moved down to caress my clit, which proved to be my undoing. I heard him groan as my muscles clenched around him, hurling us both over the edge into ecstasy.

We lay sated, still joined as I drifted off to sleep. It was hours later that I was roused from my slumber by the sounds of banging on the door.

"Bella! Are you up?" I groaned as the dulcet tones of the one and only Alice came wafting through the locked door. Turning my face into Edward's shoulder, I shuddered as the last vestiges of sleep left my body as he chuckled in my ear.

"I am now Alice." I said in my normal voice, a little on the irritated side since sleep was one of the most important things in my life right now. At least there was no need to yell with the ability of supreme vampire hearing.

"There's someone in the living room to see you so get the hell up!"

I raised my head up swiftly to meet Edward's eyes wondering who it was and what could possibly be wrong now. He grinned crookedly at me and it dawned on me then that he knew who was waiting to see us.

"Who is it?" I whispered in his ear.

He just kept grinning and shook his head.

I kissed his neck just below his ear. "Come on, tell me."

His body shaking with laughter as he moaned at the sensation of my kiss, he shook his head again. "Nope, not gonna tell you. You'll just have to get up and go see."

Scowling, I flung the covers off of us and clumsily made my way off of the bed and across to our bathroom.

"Fine! Alice, tell whomever it is that the pregnant one needs a few minutes. I swear, Edward, at least two of **your **children just love to squish my bladder on purpose."

I didn't have to turn back to look at him to know that his face would be a look of combined amusement and chagrin. It wasn't the first time I'd teased him about the physical discomforts of pregnancy. He over reacted sometimes, which I thought was quite amusing. I had to admit that despite not planning this pregnancy and everything that had been going on lately, I did love the feeling of having a part of Edward growing inside me. I could understand completely where the phrase "warm fuzzies" came from because I was so totally feeling them.

I quickly did the bathroom necessities, my bladder jumping for joy and threw on some comfortable clothes while Edward laid back on the bed waiting for me. A little smirk played around his lips as I wiggled my ass into my favourite sweat pants.

I stuck my tongue out at him and headed to the door to see who was waiting for me.

As I passed Alice in the hallway, I felt Edward come swiftly up behind me. Alice smirked as I passed her so I stuck my tongue out at her too. Ever felt like you were the butt of a joke that you didn't get the punch line of? Esme had a huge smile on her face as she pointed towards the living room where I knew my visitor was.

My eyes widened as I entered the room and looked towards the couch.

"MOM!" I literally screeched causing everyone to cringe as the sound hit their extremely sensitive ears.

I ran across the room and flung myself into the arms she held out to me. The force of the impact of my body into hers caused us to fall backwards on the couch. Laughing, she hugged me tightly before pulling slightly away to look rather sternly at me.

"So, Bella, do you have some things to tell me?"

I turned slightly in her arms to reach behind me, feeling Edward's hand engulf mine and squeeze reassuringly.

"Mom, this is Edward." I said as I drew him forward.

I watched as her eyes turned to appraise him. Looking him over from head to toe, the expression on her face still stern.

"So, Edward, what do you have to say for yourself?"

My heart leapt into my throat at her words and tone of voice. She was quite fierce when it came to my well being. Edward just grinned at her. His ability to read minds coming in quite handy in this situation.

I had told her about Edward, of course, just not everything. Like the little detail that he was a vampire might have been left out of any of the conversations I'd had with her. I also didn't think it was something I should tell her over the phone or through email. On the other hand, I had been quite angry with her for a few months about the whole 'Bella could be a shape-shifter' secret she'd kept for so many years. I admit freely that I was a tiny bit of a chicken too. Look how long it took me to actually tell Charlie, right? I may have also kind of forgotten to tell her that I was pregnant by the pre-mentioned vampire too.

She glanced from Edward's grinning face to me an eyebrow lifted at his seemingly unconcerned demeanor.

"Uhm. Mom. Er .. Ah .. " I stuttered while looking between them, hoping Edward would stop grinning and pipe in with something useful.

Just as I was ready to have a complete meltdown, Renee burst into laughter. "It's alright Bella. Your dad filled me in on **everything** before I came over here. I just wanted to see the look on your face since you haven't been exactly honest with me about anything."

"Mom .. " I started to say but she interrupted.

"I can't say that I was happy to have to hear all this from Charlie. The danger you've been in, your changes, and even about Edward here. Although Charlie seems to have given Edward here his seal of approval as your boyfriend and the father of your children."

I smiled at that. Charlie did come around after giving Edward a pretty hard time but I was pretty sure that most of it was his bent sense of humour coming into play.

"I'm sorry Mom. I just really didn't want you to worry about me when you weren't here to do anything about anything that was going on."

I grabbed her into a hug, careful not to squeeze too tightly.

"I'm sorry. I just didn't know how to tell you. We didn't even tell Charlie about Edward right away."

"Hmm. Well, I'm here now and I'm staying at least until the babies are born."

I looked at her stunned for a minute, glancing around the room at everyone that had joined us. Jasper was especially looking stressed at the very thought of a human around here all the time. His hands and jaw here clenched while Alice stood close to him rubbing his back.

"Mom, you can't … "

"Oh!" she exclaimed, glancing around the room. "I didn't mean that I would stay **here** in this house! I'm staying with Charlie but I want to come and spend time with you everyday. I know that you have to stay close to Carlisle because of your pregnancy. Isn't everyone pretty much out of the house during the day?" She asked looking around at everyone.

The relief on Jasper's face was almost palpable throughout the room. He looked at me apologetically, thinking I might be upset that my mother couldn't stay with me all the time. Our eyes met and I smiled at him, letting him know that his comfort in his own home would always take precedence over my mother staying here.

I could feel Edward's relief that I wouldn't be home during the day with only Esme for company. Even though I loved Esme to pieces, having my mom here would just be too perfect.

Renee stayed for most of the day at the house before heading back to Charlie's for the night, promising to be back in the morning. I was just thankful that thanks to Carlisle's backup, she wasn't going to be here at the crack of dawn. We compromised on 10am after he told her that I needed as much sleep as possible. I also had to warn her that I usually had a power nap in the afternoon.

I couldn't believe how fast the day had gone by. I ate dinner and relaxed with Rose and Esme while the rest of them went hunting. If Renee was going to be hanging around the house for any amount of time, they would have to start hunting more. Normally, I couldn't stand the time in the evenings when Edward had to leave us to hunt, but tonight I was content to hang out in the living room until he got back.

Another day of excitement in my life ended when Edward walked in the door, his golden eyes shining into mine with so much love that I had to swallow hard past the lump that quickly formed in my throat. He picked me up in his arms and carried me to our room. The perfect end to an interesting day.

**I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. Let me know!**

Posted on May 23, 2010

**Words: 2502**


	52. Renee's Two Cents, Chapter 51

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

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**Welcome to all you new readers! It gives me the warm & fuzzies when I see a new Favourite Alert in my inbox! And I greatly appreciated the reviews! You give awesome feedback. **

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Chapter 51 – Renee's Two Cents

Edward's POV

I was very happy that we had managed to get Renee to come up to Forks for a while. Charlie had been a huge help, explaining everything to Renee before she left Arizona. I got the feeling she was a bit hurt by Bella's inability to have the hard conversations with her mother. She was always afraid of disappointing her.

Watching Bella's reaction to seeing her mother that day was beyond priceless. I knew from Renee's thoughts that although she had been hurt by Bella's lack of sharing important occurrences in her life in Forks, she hadn't really been angry about it.

Her thoughts were calm and teasing and I couldn't stop the grin that stayed on my face while she pulled Bella's leg for a while.

I knew that having Renee in Forks was a balm for the emotions that were running rampant through Bella. Although I was unable to read Bella's mind, our connection enabled me a closer insight than others into the nervousness and fear that was emanating from her the closer to the end of the pregnancy we got.

The ability to leave her in her mother's care along with Rose and Esme when I went hunting with the rest of the family was a godsend. With Renee around the house daily, it was essential that we hunt every other day to prevent any accidents. Being in school with humans was one thing, we could at least go home to get away from the temptation but having a human in the house every day took away from that sanctuary.

The days became somewhat routine with Rose, Alice, Jasper, Emmett and I going to school together and Renee and Esme spending the day with Bella. I knew Bella missed being with us during the day but I hoped that having our moms there would take the edge off her emotions. Carlisle was in and out during the day and night. One of the Doctors had left the hospital and he was covering the shifts left unattended as best he could as well as keeping an eye on Bella for any sign of problems or early labour.

The pack came to visit during the day as well and Jake and Leah came often to hang with us on weekends while Emmett and Rose and Alice and Jasper did things on their own for quality time together. Most of our visiting was done at the house due to Carlisle's strict rules of what Bella could safely do. On good days or when Bella was about to go stark raving mad from being cooped inside the house for too long, he let her travel to Port Angeles for dinner with Leah and Jake but most of the time we stuck around Forks.

Bella literally glowed these days. She was beautiful to me all the time whether she believed me or not but now she was just breathtaking.

School was torture these days. I missed having her with me. Everything was a shade of grey when she was not next to me. I envied Emmett and Jasper at times that they had their mates with them during the day but I also knew how extremely lucky I was that Bella and I had this opportunity to have children. They probably also were envious of us, especially Rose. I knew from her human story, the one thing she had coveted the most was having a child of her own. There were times that I had caught her staring at Bella with an extremely envious expression on her face. I knew she was already in love with our children and would be there for them whatever they needed but I also knew that it was going to be emotionally hard for her.

When I got home after the school day, I knew that something had happened between Bella and Renee but she didn't seem to want to talk to me. She had even been able to block the information from our mated link. She was quiet during the evening and after I finally got her calmed and sleeping, I searched the house for Esme. I couldn't fix what I didn't know was wrong and I knew Esme would tell me if she knew what was going on.

I found Esme in Carlisle's study.

"Esme? Do you have a moment?"

She looked up from the book she was reading and smiled.

"Certainly Edward. What can I do for you?"

"Did something happen between Renee and Bella today? Bella was out of sorts when I got home today but refused to talk about it." I ask as I sit down next to her on the sofa.

She instantly averted her eyes from mine, seemingly hesitant to answer my question.

"Please Esme. If you know something, please tell me. It took me forever tonight to settle her emotions down so she could sleep and she barely ate her dinner."

Esme's eye showed how torn she was to tell me what had happened during the day but after wrestling with herself for a few moments, she must have decided that I needed to know.

"I overheard Renee pressuring Bella to arrange a wedding before the babies are born. I know you two have discussed the situation and decided to wait until summer after the school year is done but Renee didn't want to hear that. She may have told Bella that she didn't believe in getting married early while she grew up, but apparently it's a whole different matter when Bella is pregnant. They had a bit of a tiff this afternoon and Renee left early. Bella was visibly upset but I didn't want to pry, figuring she would discuss it with you when you got home."

My head fell into my hands. We had discussed a wedding but neither of us wanted some justice of the peace rushed ceremony. Bella wanted something small, intimate and family oriented designed by Alice and Esme. Alice had already been asked to design the dress and was over the moon at the request. Renee pressuring her to have a wedding before the babies were born was the last thing we needed. The stress of fighting with her mom could send her into early labour, which could be dangerous for both Bella and the babies. This was something I was going to have to deal with as soon as possible. The situation had already been explained to Charlie and although he had at first hinted that a wedding soon would be something he wanted for Bella, after the stress of the situation was explained to him, he had backed off and agreed waiting was better for everyone involved.

I felt a hand on my back and looked up at my mother (for all intents and purposes). "What am I going to say Esme? How can I get her to understand what she is doing to Bella?"

"Maybe you should talk with Charlie first, Edward. You got him to understand and maybe he can help."

I thought it over throughout the night while I watched Bella sleep. Muttering and tossing in her sleep, I knew it was what her mother had said that was disrupting her slumber.

By morning, my mind was made up. I would contact Charlie at lunch and see if I could talk with him today about the situation with Bella and Renee. I wasn't going to let it stress Bella out any longer than necessary.

During English, my mind wandered in an attempt to block out the extremely ex-rated thoughts going throughout the minds of Lauren and Jessica. Even though it was well known that Bella and I were a couple and that she was living with me, they still never gave up that they could get me away from her. Thinking about my upcoming conversation with Charlie and Renee took my mind away from their grotesque visions of what they wanted me to do to them. I shuddered as the teacher calling my name asking me a question captured my attention. We were supposed to be watching a televised version of Romeo and Juliet and he wanted me to quote the lines before the frozen scene on the television. I looked at the scene, of course recognizing it instantly and quickly quoted the lines he requested. Such an obvious advantage to seeing the same play so many times it was ridiculous.

I could teach this class and any other one in this school with very little effort. The one thing I was especially looking forward to having the children was something new and different would be happening in my life. Besides meeting and falling in love with Bella, nothing too exciting had happened to me in the last 70 years or so. This was a new adventure and I couldn't wait.

After answering the teacher, my mind wandered again to Bella and our children. I tried to stay calm and supportive for Bella but inside I was terrified. There were so many things that could still go wrong with the pregnancy despite all the precautions we had taken. I was terrified that something could go wrong and I'd lose Bella or the children. Carlisle was an accomplished doctor and I'd attended medical school a few times for different specialties but the added difference of Bella's shape-shifting physiology was a mystery to both of us.

I really needed to sit down with Bella and Carlisle and propose the possibility of a Caesarian Section to limit the risk for everyone. A great deal of blood would not be advantageous for the rest of the house to experience and a C-section could at least limit that. Only Carlisle, Leah and I would be in the room during the birth and Carlisle had everything in place, prepared for the moment Bella went into labour.

The bell jerked me out of my wandering thoughts and I looked up to meet the disgruntled eyes of my teacher. "Jesus Cullen, can't you at least pretend to pay attention to my class" were his thoughts as I gave him a small smile and shrugged my shoulders, passing him on my way out the door. I quickly searched for Alice to let her know I was going to leave the school during lunch and headed to the office for a pass. Esme had given me a note to give them to allow me to leave the school grounds without any hassles. I headed over to the police station to catch Charlie, having called to make sure he was there before leaving the school.

The deputy on duty sent me back to Charlie's office and he smiled at me as I entered his office.

"Edward! Hello son! How are you? Are you okay? Bella?"

"Hello Charlie! I'm good. Actually, sir, Bella is the very subject I needed to talk with you about."

"What? Is she okay? What's wrong?"

"Oh! No, Charlie, nothing is physically wrong with Bella or the babies. But there is a problem with Renee."

Charlie's expression became puzzled. "What about Renee? I thought it was helping Bella to have her mother here?"

"At first, it was but yesterday Esme overheard her trying to pressure Bella on the whole wedding issue and ever since then, Bella has been extremely upset. She didn't eat much last night and she was extremely restless all night. She can't handle this emotional stress right now Charlie. If I have to stop Renee coming to the house to see Bella, I will. I will do anything to make sure she gets through this pregnancy with no difficulties."

His eyes widened. "She did WHAT? I'm so sorry Edward. I told her not to bring that subject up with Bella. I explained your plans for the summer and I thought she would just let it be."

"Charlie, could Bella and I come by the house tonight and talk with both of you? It might help Bella clear the air with her mom and both of us would be there for support."

"Sounds like a good plan, son. Shall we say about 6pm for dinner? My shift ends at 5 so I'll be home in plenty of time."

I get up to shake his hand, "Thanks Charlie, we'll see you then."

I got back to the school just in time for my first afternoon class and suffered through the afternoon, my thoughts on how the conversation with Renee would go. I was hoping that Bella's safety would over power her need to see Bella go through a wedding ceremony any time soon.

Arriving home, I walked in to find my very beautiful, very pregnant love passed out on the living room sofa from what looked like a complete food orgy. I looked at Esme as she walked downstairs questioningly.

"Renee didn't come by today. Bella found her appetite, or maybe the babies did, at around 1pm this afternoon and didn't quit until she passed out."

Chuckling, I lifted her up into my arms and carried her to our room. There was plenty of time before we had to go to Charlie's house for her to sleep off her food coma. I could hear the thoughts of Ciara, Elisabeth, Edward and Aiden, who were extremely satisfied and sleepy.

As I entered the room, I couldn't help but notice how spotless the room was. Everything was put away and organized, not a single thing out of place. The cribs were made up and all the activity boards and mobiles were in place. Each crib was colour co-ordinated to each baby's preference. Who says this communication we have with them isn't handy?

I laid Bella in our bed where she snuggled into the comforter, my name leaving her lips on a sigh, making me smile. I wasn't sure how long I stood there before I felt the unmistakable presence of Esme behind me.

"She'd beautiful Edward," she said.

I felt her arm encircle my waist. "She's getting really close. She's been nesting for the past week. She just finished the cribs today."

I must have looked puzzled for a moment because Esme smiled. Just as she opened her mouth to explain, I realized what she was referring to. I'd been reading a ton of baby books to keep in the loop of what was happening with Bella during the pregnancy and realized there'd been a whole chapter in one of the books on this very subject.

"I have to talk with Carlisle soon. I'm hoping Bella will agree to have a C-section to minimize any risks for her and the babies."

Esme gently squeezed my waist, "I'm sure she will, dear. Those children mean everything to her, as do you."

Bella shifted restlessly in the bed, murmuring my name again. Esme gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and left the room. Her thoughts told me that Carlisle would be home soon.

"Esme, can you let Carlisle I would like to talk to him later? Bella and I are going to her father's house for 6pm to have a talk with Renee."

"Sure Edward. I'll let him know." She said out loud in case Bella had woken up. They made sure that they spoke out loud these days so that Bella didn't feel excluded from conversations.

I lay down with Bella and scooped her into my arms. She snuggled into my body and sighed.

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**I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. Let me know!**

Posted on May 30, 2010

**Words: 2698**


	53. New Arrivals, Chapter 52

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

**Happy Reading Everyone!**

**Welcome to all you new readers! It gives me the warm & fuzzies when I see a new Favourite Alert in my inbox! And I greatly appreciated the reviews! You give awesome feedback. **

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Chapter 52 – New arrivalsBella's POV

I slowly emerged from the dregs of sleep to a mixture of heaven and hell. The cool body of Edward next to me, his hand moving slowly through my hair was heaven sent. The incessant beeping of the alarm that Edward had set, on the other hand, was the very essence of hell.

He chuckled as my body automatically turned into his and snuggled into his chest.

"Time to get up, luv."

I groaned my protest. I didn't want to go to my father's house. I especially didn't want to deal with Renee. At first, it had been great having her here and spending time with her but this past week had been horrendous. She kept pressuring me about a wedding. Even though it was planned for summer when the 'cubs' were a few months old and Alice and Esme had gotten everything together. I couldn't understand why she was so insistent that we do it right away. Why did she feel it necessary to pressure me right now when she had been told repeatedly that any stress could be dangerous?

I knew my body was tensing as the questions floated through my mind and I tried to relax as I felt Edward's arms tighten around me.

Sighing, I turned my face up to his to kiss him deeply and pushed him off the edge of the bed, the last thing he was expecting. I laughed as I looked over the edge of the bed at him.

"Come on. Get up and help your jumbo fiancee off the bed." I felt like I'd tripled in size in the past 2 weeks. Although we didn't know exactly when my labour would start, Carlisle felt that it could be within the next couple of weeks according to measurements from the most recent ultra sound.

I was so excited and so scared at the same time. I could feel Edward's fear as the pregnancy progressed and the end came into sight. I knew he was worried. This pregnancy was the first of its kind.

The excitement to meet Ciara, Elizabeth, Edward and Aiden made my mind race and my body quiver. What would they look like? Would the have special abilities like Edward? I'd already gotten the gist of their little personalities while the were safely inside of me but would they change once out in the world? Would they take after their shape-shifter or vampire heritage or a combination of both?

There were endless questions that coursed through my mind all the time and Renee's pushiness right now was definitely not welcome. I'd actually been very close during her last rant to just tell her to go home to Phoenix and leave me the hell alone.

Edward easily lifted me to my feet, kissed and held me for a few minutes before I waddled to our bathroom to freshen up, yawning along the way.

We arrived at Charlie's half an hour late thanks to the little ones demanding nourishment before I was allowed to leave the house. They were not interested in waiting until after we saw their grandparents. Our tardiness was pointed out by Renee rather snarkily to which I stuck my tongue out in response, acting felt like acting like the teenage brat she'd accused me of the other day when I wouldn't change our plans to satisfy her.

I could see Charlie shake his head at both of us and Edward's amusement flowed over me like a welcome coat of armour against her snideness.

"Well you can blame your grandchildren. They wouldn't let me leave the house until I ate again!"

Her facial expression instantly changed at the mention of the children, all snarkiness fading away.

At this point, Charlie spoke up and suggested we go into the kitchen to talk.

"Good plan Dad. The pups might get hungry. Hope you have food in there." At which point both Edward and Charlie laughed and my tension eased a little.

Edward and I sat on one side of the table while Renee and Charlie sat on the other.

Charlie spoke up first. "Bella, I believe you have some things to say to your mother? You can start whenever you're ready and your mother is going to sit here quietly and listen to every word you have to say."

I watched as Renee opened her mouth to speak but froze as Charlie lifted a finger to her lips and frowned at her. That was different, I thought puzzled.

Closing my eyes for a moment, I took a deep breath and grabbed Edward's hand in mine. I opened my eyes to look her directly in the eyes as I spoke.

"Mom, you know I love you. Right? I was beyond happy when you showed up here to spend time with me, especially given the circumstances." I paused and waved my hand over my extended belly.

"It was the greatest surprise I could've gotten from you. That said, you cannot dictate to me or force me to do something just because you think it's best for me. I know what is best for me. I know what is best for my children. I've grown up a lot since coming to Forks, Mom. Edward and I are engage. We are getting married in the summer. Esme and Alice are making all the arrangements. If you want to be involved in any planning, talk to them. I'm sure that they would be happy to include you."

I took another breath and continued.

"My current job is to be pregnant and pass my courses. Then I will be concentrating on Edward and our children after they're born. No matter how much you try to pressure me to get married sooner, it's not going to happen. You telling me these things only pisses me off and upsets the babies. They are very cognizant of everything that happens around me and everything that I feel. Please stop stressing me and them out. Carlisle has already told you that I need a stress free environment. Please take what he said to heart."

"But …. " Renee started.

"NO! There are no buts. This is the way it is, live with it." I felt Edward's hand squeeze mine in support and Charlie gave me a little smile and nod.

Renee looked at me silently then over at Charlie. Sighing, she nodded, agreeing to back off.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted everything to be perfect."

"Mom, it is perfect." I smiled at her, the tension that had permeated through me for days was melting away. I was glad that Edward had talked me into doing this. I loved that he knew me so well. He knew what I needed even when I didn't agree.

We chatted for a while before I started to yawn and growling could be heard from the vicinity of the pups. Everyone started when they heard the noise and I snorted, "They're hungry, it seems."

Everyone laughed and we stood up to leave and headed to the door. I gave Charlie a quick hug, we still weren't overly physically affectionate. My mother waited her turn and as I turned towards her, thoughts that were not of my mind came to me.

"_Love Grama and Grampa!"_

"_Want to see Auntie Pixie!"_

"_YES! Auntie Pixie!"_

"_Where's Pixie! Want to see her now!_

We looked at each other for a few seconds before bursting out in laughter.

"Do you want to tell her that's she'd going to be known as Auntie Pixie?" I inquired.

"Edward shook his head vehemently, "Oh hell no! You can have that honour! I want no part of it."

Charlie and Renee stood there looking like they were missing a crucial piece of a puzzle.

We laughed again, this time at my parents.

"Sorry, we forget sometimes that others can't hear them. The babies were talking. Apparently they have picked up on the word pixie in conjunction with Alice and now they have decided she is going to be referred to as Auntie Pixie by all four of them. But I think I'll just let it be a surprise for when they let her see or hear it themselves." I chuckled imagining the look on her face when they did so.

They joined in my amusement and we hugged goodnight. After a snack in the kitchen, I fell asleep in Edward's arms content that everything was, for once, all right in my little world.

The next week was quiet in the Cullen household, no drama to be found. Renee continued to come over and spend the days with me and evenings were spent with Alice or Edward. After the little ones started talking about 'Auntie Pixie', I realized that I'd been a little neglectful in spending time with my best friend.

We spent our time with me willingly becoming her barbie doll; manicures, pedicures and fashion shows.

My body was becoming too cumbersome to get around easily so Alice had clothes delivered to the house and she and Rose would show them off. Clothes to wear post pregnancy were the most important to Alice.

Playing dress up wasn't something I really enjoyed doing but for Alice, I was willing to endure it. Her enthusiasm for all things in life was contagious and I didn't think there was a single being on the planet that could resist her.

Evenings with Edward were loving and relaxed, spending the time cuddling on the couch in our room reading or listening to music and talking about and with our children. The daily ultrasounds were showing that the babies were very close to being born and my body was telling me in its own way.

All Carlisle could tell us was 'any day now" which was not helping Edward's nerves or my anxiety. Even Alice's precognition was unable to help, most likely due to my shape-shifter DNA.

It was Friday afternoon when it happened. I was lying down in our room, Renee had just left and Edward was on his way home. I felt a twinge in the muscles along my abdomen, causing my breath to hitch and my body to jerk.

I knew what it was, all the baby books I'd read described it and Renee had told me her experience with my birth. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances, we hadn't been able to go to the normal pre-natal classes that most couples were able to go to. With our situation, we had to rely on Carlisle and Renee's experiences for the information we needed.

I rolled over and reached for my cell phone just as Carlisle and Esme burst through the open door.

"Bella, we got here as soon as we could! How are you doing?"

"Esme! Carlisle! What are you doing home? How did you know?" As soon as the question was out of my mouth, I knew the answer.

"Alice called me, Bella." Carlisle replied.

"Oh! Well her radar is a little off. The contractions have barely begun so there wasn't a reason to rush. Can you please call Edward and let him know and tell him to slow down! He's driving like a maniac."

Esme calmly sat beside me on the bed and reached for my phone.

"I'll do that for you Bella. Do you want me to call Leah for you?"

"Thanks Esme. Please do, although you might find that she is already on the way. My phone list is in the nightstand drawer. Can you get Edward to call Renee and Charlie when he gets here?'

No sooner were those words out of my mouth than I heard the front door slam and the sound of more than one pair of footsteps running in my direction.

Esme got up from the bed as Edward rushed into the room. It had been decided that a C-section would be done at the first sign of labour. Carlisle felt that it was the safest direction to go considering the many unknown variables in this situation. Carlisle had prepared a room in the basement with all the latest technology and was completely confident in dealing with the operation.

Carlisle instructed Edward to carry me to the room so he could check me out and see about preparing me for the procedure. Everything had been setup well in advance.

The procedure went off without a hitch. I was in the most capable hands possible and Edward was even able to control his blood lust to be in the room with me. He'd made sure to hunt daily for the past couple of weeks so he would be prepared and it worked beyond belief.

The girls were an even blend of Edward and I, my pale skin and Edward's beautifully classic features and bronze hair. The boys had my chestnut hair and a darker complexion than the girls. They all had the bluish eyes normal to babies so we'd had to wait to see what their true eye colour would be.

For an unknown gestation time, they all ended up at very good birth weights. Once I was sewn up and they were checked out and cleaned up, the rest of the family came in to meet the new additions to our family.

Alice came in first and stood just inside the door, literally vibrating with excitement. I was holding the girls and Edward had the boys in his arms standing next to the bed. He was utterly amazed that the moment he touched them, all feelings of bloodlust disappeared.

I motioned to Alice to come closer and her face lit up with happiness as she bounced over to the bed. She reached out and gently caressed one of the girl's cheeks. It was going to take a while for everyone to get his or her names straight. Within minutes of their birth, both Edward and I knew who was who, but then we'd been conversing with them for the last few months.

"So pretty." Alice breathed out as her finger left on of the girls and moved to the other.

I looked up to see Jasper standing by the door. I tried to wave him in but he just smiled and shook his head, "I'll wait Bella."

I smiled back at him and shrugged, "When you're ready Jasper. I trust you."

Emmett, for all his usual boisterousness, came into the room slowly, almost as if afraid he would scare them.

Edward and I exchanged amused looks before looking back to see him gently run a finger through each of the girls' hair and softly telling them he was their Uncle Emmett. Rose quietly came up beside him and stared wistfully at them. I knew that inside she was crying for these moments that were lost to her. It saddened me that neither Alice nor Rose would feel the joy that was coursing through me at this moment. I felt Edward move his body closer to mine, knowing where my thoughts had gone.

Carlisle and Esme were the last to introduce themselves to their new family members before leaving us alone. Carlisle wanted us to stay in the delivery room for a few hours so that the babies could be monitored in the special units that had purchased, not knowing how premature they'd be.

We took the opportunity to nap with them before we went back to our room. Renee and Leah were fussing over the girls while Edward settled the boys in their cribs. I was sore but thanks to my good old super DNA, I was healing rapidly. I probably wouldn't even have a scar from the C-section, which was a complete upside to this whole thing, as far as I was concerned.

Edward had insisted I rest in bed once everyone was settled and I couldn't find the will to argue with him. I loved that he took such good care of me.

After ushering everyone out of the room, he joined me in our bed, watching over his family like the proud father he was.

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**I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. Let me know!**

Posted on June 27, 2010

**Words: 2798**


	54. Routine and Surprises, Chapter 53

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

**Happy Reading Everyone!**

**Welcome to all you new readers! It gives me the warm & fuzzies when I see a new Favourite Alert in my inbox! And I greatly appreciated the reviews! You give awesome feedback. **

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Chapter 53 – Routine and Surprises

Edward's POV

They were here!

When Alice had the vision of Bella going into labour, the emotions that gripped me were almost paralyzing.

Esme called as we headed to the house, telling me that Bella was fine. It would have been faster to run home but we didn't want to raise suspicion of why our cars were left at the school. Carlisle was with Bella and I knew that she would be safe with him.

Bella went through the procedure with flying colours, much to my relief. Not that I wasn't afraid of the worst happening through the whole thing, but that's what having a medical degree does to a person even if they don't actually use it.

I'd hunted everyday for the past two weeks in order to be prepared when Bella went into labour. I was well aware of what would happen while I was in the room with her and felt precautions were necessary.

As Carlisle proceeded with the C-section, I kept a running dialogue with our children. Amazingly enough they were well aware of what was going on around them and were quite concerned for their mother. With the intellect that we'd deduced from them through the last couple of months, we'd both agreed that we were going to have our hands full.

Once Bella and the babies were cleaned up, everyone was allowed to come in and say a quick hi before they rested. Bella couldn't stop smiling and the babies were serene as Alice came in and as she touched each one, they literally screamed her new nickname at her. Bella and I shared a smile over it, looking forward to the time when they shared it with Alice themselves.

Jasper seemed a little on edge and waited by the door. I knew how he felt.

Before actually holding them, I'd been nervous that I wouldn't be able to control myself around them. I'd never allowed myself to be near small human children since my change into a vampire. I didn't know what to expect.

But my worry had been for nothing. The connection I felt with them only grew stronger when I was able to hold them in my arms.

The rest of the family and the Quileutes filtered through the room before leaving us alone for a while. Carlisle wanted the babies monitored for a couple of hours before moving them back to our room.

Once everyone was settled and asleep, I lay there watching them. I still couldn't believe how much my life had changed since Bella came into it. Things I thought I'd never have were here in this room with me.

We were a little concerned that after being so close in the womb that they would have a hard time being separated into their beds but both Bella and I could hear that their mental link was still as strong as before. We'd have to find out in the future just how far this link could travel.

Bella and the babies all napped for a few hours and woke up extremely hungry. From the exam and blood tests that were taken after the birth, their physiology took after Bella, which meant that they'd be nursing. Renee came to the door just as they started to stir to ask Bella if she wanted help getting situated. Bella, of course, blushed fiercely but nodded to her mom.

I got up and fetched Ciara who had woken first, handing her to Bella as Renee sat next to her on the bed. I watched, completely fascinated as Ciara latched on and started suckling, her mouth working feverishly to acquire sustenance from Bella. I'd never seen a more beautiful sight in all my existence.

The process was repeated until they were all satisfied. Renee left saying she would be back later but needed to go and get some errands done. Bella's eyes drifted shut as I laid Aidan back in his crib. I joined her in bed and held her tightly. I felt her body relax into mine and I kissed the side of her head, whispering my love to her as I felt her drift off to sleep.

The next few days involved developing a routine which included feeding, changing and learning about their different personalities. The ability to communicate with them telepathically was a godsend to the both of us. We didn't have to guess what they needed, they just told us.

Renee was staying in Forks longer than planned to help out and Alice was constantly asking what they needed. The energizer Pixie made us all tired just watching her excitement around the house.

There was something about our children that had everyone who came in contact with them fall under some sort of spell. No matter if they were vampire, human or shape-shifter, once the held them their welfare and safety became extremely important. Even Jasper, who still had issues being around humans was completely devoted to them.

A routine was quickly established in the house. Carlisle wrote to the principal of the high school, informing him that I would be out of school for the remainder of the year and he would make arrangements for my year end tests. All necessary schoolwork would be passed on to Alice who would bring it home.

We didn't want to let on that Bella had given birth or the rumours would run rampant through the town. After a while, we would let others outside of the pack and our families know but for now we were going to be mum on the subject.

On this particular day, the mini pack as we'd taken to calling them, were a couple of months old and we had them out in the living room enjoying the quiet of the house when a knock sounded on the front door. The family had all gone hunting together, Charlie and Renee were in town having dinner at the diner and the pack were all back on La Push. No one should be knocking on the door that we knew of. I couldn't seem to hear all of the thoughts coming from the person on the other side of the door and didn't recognize them either.

I quickly ran the kids back to our room and indicated for Bella to stand back from the door as I answered it. She was poised to protect our young ones in the event it was someone with malicious intent.

As soon as Bella heard the person's voice answer me, she squealed and threw herself around me and into their arms.

"PHIL!" she yelled as she squeezed him tightly.

My body tensed up even though I could feel through our bond that he was no threat. He was Renee's husband. It didn't prevent my instincts from rebelling at the sight of another man holding my mate.

Bella stepped away from him and back to my side, looping her arm around my waist. She pulled me forward to introduce him to me.

"Edward, this is Phil. Phi, Edward." Bella was literally vibrating with joy. I knew she missed him and kept in touch with emails and phone calls, but it wasn't the same as seeing him in person.

She urged him down the hall to see the babies, smiling happily all the way. He oohed and ah'd over the sleeping children. Although his thoughts were partially hidden, I could get enough to know that he was truly happy for Bella but still wary of me. That suited me just fine. His natural instincts around vampires were actually working which was really sort of strange for anyone in Bella's life. They all seemed to attract danger, especially her.

Phil's thoughts once again turned to Renee as they had more and more since his arrival. He really did love her, idiosyncrasies and all. When Bella told me the age difference between the two of them, I wasn't sure how that worked with humans or if it should. After expressing the thought to Bella, she'd given me the strangest look. They left the bedroom as the babies lay sleeping .

"So what brings you to Forks, Phil?" I asked out of politeness, already knowing the answer.

He looked away from us for a moment, a sad look on his face before responding, "I just really missed Renee and couldn't wait to see her."

Bella glanced my way and I discreetly shook my head. There was more behind his visit than what he was saying out loud.

Bella hugged him again and exclaimed, "Well, whatever the reason, I'm so happy to see you and introduce you to my new family! Everyone should be home soon. Does Mom know you're in town? Where are you staying? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Tired? Would you like to rest?"

Her questions were coming faster than Phil could answer them and I just had to take pity on the poor guy.

"Phil, Renee is just having dinner with Charlie but she should be back soon. The family was just giving us time to ourselves. The house has been pretty busy with all the visitors since Bella gave birth."

He gave me a small smile but I could see the worry lines that appeared on his brow at the mention of Charlie's name. Ah ha! The reason for his visit! He was wary of the time they were spending together while he was so far away.

"Please come and have a seat. Would you like a drink? Something to eat?"

Phil shook his head. "I'm good. Ate on the plane," he replied as he followed us into the living room.

We sat around awkwardly chatting for a while before Bella sprang to her feet. Phil went to stand but Bella waved him back into his seat.

"Please stay and I'll see if the any of the babies are awake yet. Although, they seem to take after me and sleep a lot." Bella said with a laugh as she headed out of the room.

Phil shuffled nervously as he looked around the room, every where but at me. Finally, here was a human that reacted like they should in my presence. Prey to predator. I was beginning to think that there was no one in Bella's life that would react the way they should around my family or me.

"Are you sure I can't get you a drink Phil? We have cold beer in the fridge."

He looked directly at me at this revelation and I laughed.

"We keep the kitchen well stocked for Bella, Renee, Charlie and the pack from La Push. Alcohol doesn't have the same effect on us but we can enjoy the flavour of it."

He nodded finally deciding on a beer and I walked at human speed to collect it. By the time I returned to the living room, Bella was back with Ciara and Aiden. Introducing them to Phil now that they were awake.

Their thoughts indicated that they knew who he was by the information Renee had shared about her life in Phoenix. What alarmed me a little was the anxiety I felt from them. It was something I'd have to discuss with Bella. Both Aiden and Ciara didn't want Renee to leave and go back home with Phil.

I was starting to get suspicious of the time Renee was spending with Charlie. Although there had never been outright animosity between them, they had very obviously moved on from their relationship. Renee with Phil and, if rumours were correct, Charlie with Sue. I already knew that it was true and so did Bella but we decided to respect Charlie's silence on the subject.

The strange thing about the past few months, in actuality, since Renee started spending time alone with my children when Bella needed to spend time alone with me, her behaviour towards Charlie had started to change. I could hear in Charlie's thoughts on occasion that he couldn't quite figure out where Renee's actions was coming from but if the last few minutes were any indication, I was pretty sure I'd figured it out.

We'd already become aware that the telepathic link between the four children was extremely strong but I was beginning to realize that when they were together, they had the ability to influence and manipulate those around them, at least humans were very susceptible.

So far, the pack and the coven were immune, which was a good thing. It was bad enough having Jasper manipulate emotions at times without being influence by four babies.

The children may only be a few months old at this point but they were extremely intelligent. We were going to sit down with them and discuss their actions as well as clueing in Renee and Charlie.

I sighed and Bella looked over at me. She knew something was definitely up but her thoughts were so focused into Phil, she hadn't picked up on what was happening.

I shook my head slightly and mouthed 'later' at her. She smiled and turned back to Phil.

About an hour later, my family started to wander back to the house. By this time, all four children were wide awake and clearly ganging up on Phil. He was getting more and more uncomfortable as time passed. Renee and Charlie showed up shortly after all my family was settled into the living room entertaining the children.

Renee's face lit up like a Christmas tree upon seeing Phil sitting uncomfortably in the living room with a coven of vampires, a shape-shifter and four hybrid babies.

"Phil!" she literally yelled as she flung herself into his arms. He stood and braced himself just in time to take the impact of her body hitting his. She laughed and kissed him hard as we all watched. The minds of my children were screaming no at her as they kissed passionately for a few minutes.

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**I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. Let me know!**

Posted on July 18, 2010

**Words: 2447**


	55. Parenthood, Chapter 54

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

**Happy Reading Everyone!**

**Welcome to all you new readers! It gives me the warm & fuzzies when I see a new Favourite Alert in my inbox! And I greatly appreciated the reviews! You give awesome feedback. **

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Chapter 54 – Parenthood

Bella's POV

I couldn't believe how smoothly a routine was forming around the quads. Two months and I was so happy with my life that I still pinched myself once in a while. Edward usually laughed at me if he saw me.I never thought that I would be lucky enough to have Edward and our children. My life had changed so much since that day in Phoenix when I confronted my mother.

Having her here in Forks has been wonderful. I'd missed her so much more than I thought I would since I came here. Having my Dad, Edward and our new family was great but after so many years of it only being my Mom and me, I knew that I would miss her so much when she and Phil left..

I knew she had extended her stay to help with the quads but I also knew she missed Phil greatly. I was going to miss her when she left to go back home.

I looked around the living room at everyone here. Mom and Phil, Charlie, the Cullens formed a most unusual family. The only thing missing was the Pack, I laughed to myself. I still was in a euphoric mood since Edward opened the door to find Phil standing there. He must have missed Mom as much as she missed him to travel all the way to Forks without saying anything to anyone.

I hoped it wasn't going to mean that Mom would be leaving soon, I wasn't ready to have that happen.

Edward had been acting a little strange ever since I had brought Aiden and Ciara out to sit with the three of us and I knew he had something he wanted to talk to me about but I couldn't figure out what. It had to be about the quads, and possibly about Phil. I looked over at him to see he was studying the interaction between Mom, Phil and the quads. What the hell was going on?

I kept trying to catch his eye so we could go and talk about whatever seemed to be bothering him but he kept ignoring me. Finally, having enough, I strolled over to him and whispered "Come with me."

He looked at me for a moment before standing and holding his hand out to me. I smiled as I took it and we headed out of the room. I caught Alice's eye as we left the room and she nodded. I knew she'd keep an eye on my Mom, Phil and Dad while I was gone.

I followed Edward through the back patio of the house and out to the gazebo in the backyard, The further we got away from the others, the stronger our link became and I now knew his concern about our children. If they were this influential with humans at only a few months old, what were they going to be like when they got older. We needed to nip this in the bud right now.

As we sat down on the bench, we turned toward each other and smiled.

"Well, this is an interesting turn of events." I stated, sighing.

"Isn't it though. You know of course that Carlisle is going to have a field day observing them over the next few years." He laughed thinking about his father and his curiosity about the quads.

"What are we going to do with them Edward? Are they going to really understand the seriousness of what they are doing to Renee and Charlie?" I asked him.

"I'm not sure but we have to try. Find a way to put it that they will understand. They are most worried that Phil is here to take Renee away from them but I have a feeling he has some news that will change that scenario. Their influence over Charlie isn't as much since his interaction with them is so limited. They have more opportunity to mess with Renee's emotions right now."

I looked at him in surprise. "What did you hear?"

"Phil has been offered a job in Seattle. If he takes it, it will mean that they will be close by. It's the reason he decided to fly up here. To ask her what she thinks about moving. He is quite aware of how much she misses you and now with the her grandchidren here, he realizes that he needs to come up with a solution. I'm pretty sure she'll go for it." he finished with a laugh.

"Are you serious? That would be fantastic. I wonder if they'd consider getting a house in Forks?" I was ecstatic. Just the thought that my mother and Phil could be moving here made my day even better. I kissed Edward deeply before laying my head against his shoulder and sighing in contentment. Other than figuring out how to deal with the new information about the quads, my life was absolutely perfect right now.

"I'm sure that's what Phil has planned," Edward held me close for a moment before standing and holding his hand out to me. Pulling me up, he put his arms around me again and squeezed a little.

We walked slowly towards the house arm in arm and paused on the back porch to look through the window. The other half of the quads had now joined everyone and being introduced to Phil.

"We'd better get in there before they do something drastic to Phil before they hear his news." Edward whispered in my ear with a chuckle.

We entered the living room just in time to see Carlisle have a seat next to Phil and inquire what brought him to Forks.

"Well Carlisle, I'm actually here with good news, I hope."

I could see my Mom look at Phil curiously and with surprise. Obviously, he hadn't discussed anything about this news with her before hand.

Phil turned to Mom and beckoned her to come over and sit next to him. She turned to me, noticing that Edward and I had come back into the living room, and handed me the baby she was holding before hesitantly going over and sitting next to her husband.

"Renee, how would you feel about living here in Forks?"

My mom's mouth opened but no sound came forth. I gasped in surprise, almost in disbelief that all my dreams could possibly come true and both my parents would be close to us and be a part of our children's lives. In the next second, she threw herself in his arms, tears of joy streaming down her face.

I turned to see Edward watching our children very intensely one at a time. I knew they couldn't understand what Phil said, but they understood tears and I was afraid that they might misinterpret them. I hoped that they would also see her smile as she cried. I caught Edward's attention and jerked my head towards the quads as I did. He nodded once and I read that to mean that they weren't freaking out or anything. I wasn't sure how we were going to deal with their abilities. If they could influence how people thought, I was really hoping I was immune to it. It would not do to have them get whatever they wanted from me. I knew Edward's mind was more controlled than mine. He had to develop the control to keep out the impact of other's thoughts. I always wondered, since I'd met him, how he survived the influx of everyone's thoughts when he was first turned. It must have been overwhelming.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" My thoughts were drawn back to the room as I heard my mom practically scream in Phil's ear while her tears turned to laughter. She kissed him thoroughly, mindless of the audience around her that began to laugh with her.

She turned towards me with a big smile. "How would you like to have another permanent babysitter around Bella? "

I smiled and walked over to her and Phil. "I would love to have you around here Mom, and I know the kids will as well." I glanced over at Edward with a smile. He nodded in return.

Esme got to her feet and headed towards the kitchen. "I think this deserves a celebratory drink!"

She came back with a tray of drinks for everyone.

Renee of course had questions for Phil on how this came to be. He explained that he had gone to his manager and asked if there was a chance to get transferred closer to Washington State in order for her to be nearer to me and my family, knowing that I wouldn't be leaving the area anytime soon. When the offer came through, he was ecstatic and immediately found out more. The deal came through just today and he pounced on it, not believing that there would be a problem as far as Renee was concerned

Renee grabbed him again for another kiss and hug, almost squealing in her excitement. "Oh there is so much to do! We have to sell the house and buy one here and get everything moved. Oh my, how soon can we do this?"

Phil smiled at her brightly. "Everything is going to be dealt with Renee. All you have to do is find a house you want to buy here and it's a done deal."

Her eyes shining with excitement, she turned to me and asked if I could help find a house with her. She wanted something that would be safe for the kids to stay at. Edward and I exchanged knowing glances. There was no way that the kids would be staying alone with her until they were old enough to control their gifts.

The rest of the evening went by quickly in a celebratory mood before Renee and Phil left for Phil's hotel to have a little celebration / reunion by themselves.

Edward and I got the children to bed after asking the family if they could meet us in the dining room after we had done so. They all exchanged curious glances as we walked out of the room.

Once the quads were settled in and sleeping, we headed back to the dining room hand in hand. I knew that our family was wondering what was up and knew that telling them first was the right thing to do. Maybe they'd have ideas on how to tell Charlie, Renee, Phil and the pack about the quad's abilities.

"Thanks for being so patient everyone. We wanted to share some information we've discovered about the kids." I turned toward Alice and as I suspected, she already knew what the meeting was about. "Alice, I know you are already aware of the situation."

She just smiled and nodded.

Carlisle looked between Alice, Edward and I quizzically, "What's up with the kids? Is something wrong?"

Edward took this opportunity to explain what he'd recently discovered. "Nothing is wrong per se Carlisle but we have discovered what their unique ability seems to be. They have the ability to make others do what they want. They are all linked mentally but that could just be a quad thing. But I have found that they have the ability to mentally influence what they want others to do. The closeness we saw between Charlie and Renee these past few weeks or so was from their influence mostly. Not to say that they weren't friendly to each other but they were "more" friendly because of the quads."

I looked around the room to gauge everyone's reaction to Edward's announcement. There was silence as everyone contemplated this new information. Alice and Jasper, of course, already knew so no surprise on their parts. Emmett looked excited, probably thinking of the pranks he could come up with the quads' help. Rosalie looked a little alarmed. Carlisle looked intrigued and Esme just didn't seem to have any reaction at all.

"Edward, we must talk more about this." Carlisle stated, his eyes gleaming with curiosity over the prospect of a scientific puzzle to add to the list he was working on. The list I knew that I was on.

"Yes, Carlisle. Later." Edward smiled at the thoughts in Carlisle's mind. Our link was indeed becoming stronger everyday. The ability to feel what the other was feeling was so powerfully amazing but when our thoughts linked as well, it was as if we were one person. I would never get over the utter amazement of being with Edward.

"Emmett, don't even think about it! You are not going to get them involved in any prank's." Emmett's face fell as Rosalie glared at him.

I looked at him with narrowed eyes to reinforce Rosalie's stand on the issue.

"Who can they influence?" Esme asked in a calm voice.

Edward and I looked at each other for a moment before he answered. "Bella and I appear to be immune to their influence but I'm not sure who else will be. Clearly humans are not immune. We're going to go out to La Push and talk to the pack about this new development today since some of them will be around them when the come to see Bella."

"Good idea, you two. Esme and I will look after the children while you do that. You also need to discuss this with your parents, Bella. They should know what they are dealing with when they are with their grandchildren. Do you know the reason the children were influencing Charlie and Renee?"

I chose to answer this one. "I'm pretty sure it has to do with the possibility of Renee leaving. Thinking back, it started to happen around the time that Renee and I had a conversation about her going home to Phil. After that, Mom started spending more time with Charlie. When Phil arrived there was a lot of feelings of animosity towards him from the quads until Phil asked Renee if she wanted to move back to Forks."

Everyone nodded, understanding the scope of what our children could do. Being as young as they are, they don't have the moral compass to let them know what was right and wrong. They only knew what they wanted and now they knew how to go about getting it.

We discussed options and Carlisle wanted to perform some basic tests on them. I agreed that he could start when they woke up from their nap. In the meantime, Edward and I were leaving to head to La Push and then see Charlie, Renee and Phil. If they were going to be around the quads for any length of time, they needed to show a united front in order to minimize any undue influence upon their thoughts and actions.

The pack took the news of the quads abilities with a mixture of surprise and fascination. Jacob, of course, thought it was actually quite hilarious and was literally laughing so hard he could barely speak. Even Leah cuffing him upside the head didn't stop him.

Our next stop was Charlie's house where Renee and Phil agreed to meet us. The explanation was a bit more awkward this time given the fact that the quads had already used their abilities on Charlie and Renee. I knew this information was going to be a little uncomfortable for them.

We explained why we thought it happened and how the fact that Renee was moving here would most likely calm the situation down. Now we just had to figure out how to explain to them that they couldn't do that to people. My children were far from stupid and they likely knew already knew that their father and I were not exactly happy with their actions but the were also only a few months old.

By the time we got home, the kids were up and playing with Emmett and Jasper while Carlisle observed them. Esme, Rosalie and Alice were all in the kitchen making dinner since we had invited my parents over at Esme's insistence.

The dinner was wonderful. All I can say is thank the gods for the cooking channel that all three of them were addicted to.

After dinner Edward and I gathered my parents and the quads into the family room and gave a simple explanation that Grandma Renee was going to move to Forks with Phil and would be spending lots of time with them. The feeling that came from them was sheer joy and their thoughts toward Phil became friendlier. Although I couldn't hear every single thought that they had, as with Edward, strong emotions seemed to come through loud and clear. I figured It was the wolf connection with a bit of a twist. While my thoughts even turned down that path, I also wondered if any of them would take after my lineage and shape-shift. I guess time was going to tell on that issue.

That night as we settled them into bed, I stood amongst the cribs and just watched them fall asleep. I felt Edward come up behind me and his arms encircled my waist, pulling me back against his body. The electrical charge I always felt when he touched me was once again coursing through my body. I leaned back into him and sighed.

"They're rather beautiful aren't they?" he whispered against my neck, kissing my pulse point and making me shiver.

"They really are. We do make rather pretty babies." I said with a smile reaching up to kiss his chin.

"Yes we do. We should make more or at least practice" he replied with a smirk.

"Where? We are so not doing anything in the same room as the kids, Edward!"

"Well, we could always take a shower, Bella" he turned me around to face him as he spoke before kissing me deeply.

"Shower it is!" I said breathlessly as our kiss ended. I will never, for as long as I live, ever get enough of him.

* * *

**This story is coming to an end. Last regular chapter next then the epi. Thanks for reading and reviewing.**

Posted on October 4, 2010 **Words: **3121


	56. Our Future, Chapter 55

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

**Happy Reading Everyone!**

**Welcome to all you new readers! It gives me the warm & fuzzies when I see a new Favourite Alert in my inbox! And I greatly appreciated the reviews! You give awesome feedback. **

**A short chapter to tie up Edward's thoughts. Epilogue is next.**

Chapter 55 – Our Future

Edward's POV

I slipped out of bed silently after Bella fell asleep. Our shower adventure had worn her out completely. I had to admit that since the quads birth, we'd had to become quite creative where our sex life was concerned. It was definitely the time to talk to Bella about building our own house on the property. Since money was no object, we could probably get it finished in time to move in after the wedding.

I just wasn't sure how she was going to react to the idea. She hated that I spent money on her but if I could convince her that it was more for the children than us, she just might agree.

I already had an idea for the layout of the house and what rooms we needed. A library for Bella, a music room for me and a huge bedroom / playroom for the kids. I wanted the design to be such that we'd have a lot of room for the children to have their own rooms if they wanted when they got older and rooms for any possible future children.

I wanted a smaller guesthouse built for when Charlie or Renee and Phil needed to stay overnight for whatever reason. Building our house on the same property would ensure we would always be close to the family and they could keep a close eye on the children.

I wandered over to the cribs and gazed down at the miracles sleeping peacefully. Their sleep patterns seemed to follow the shape-shifter side of their paternity, which I was ever thankful for. Given their recently discovered abilities, it would certainly not be a good thing to have them take after me and never sleep. I actually shuddered at the thought.

I had been fairly surprised at how calmly Renee and especially Phil had taken the news of the influences she and Charlie had been under for those few weeks. I had expected more shock or at least some sort of reaction but they both shrugged it off as less than important. I guess I really shouldn't' be surprised given Bella's reaction to the existence of my kind and me.

I still was amazed at the fact that we met at all, let alone that she loves me. Given all the issues against us, being together, I was still tempted to pinch myself that this was my life now. So many things decades of being alone while the others basked in the warmth of the love of their mates. The random hookups I had indulged in were empty of emotion. They were just a physical release.

I turned my head to glance at Bella sleeping in our bed and felt my body flood with want and need. If my heart still beat, I'm pretty sure it feels ready to burst at the emotion running through me. I needed her to survive like I needed the animals I hunted. Without her, my life would once again be an emotional wasteland.

I sighed and shook my head, clearing out the thoughts of her not being with me and turned to tuck the blankets around our children just as Bella rolled over stretching out her hand in search of me.

I smiled to myself as tiny frown lines appeared between her eyes and quickly went to her. Lying back down on the bed, she instinctively moved towards me and cuddled close.

I closed my eyes and basked in the feeling of her in my arms for the rest of the night.

Bella was still sleeping when I heard the energetic sounds of Alice coming towards our door. I gently extracted myself from Bella and got to the door seconds before she knocked.

A huge smile lit up her face and her thoughts were literally screaming inside my mind. She wanted to be involved in desighning the house. I actually should have known it since of of her college degrees was in architecture.

"Please Edward. Please! Please!"

"Alice, I haven't even talked to her yet. I'm sure she wouldn't have a problem but let me talk to her first."

Her shoulders slumped. "Well, hurry up and talk to her then. I know exactly what you want but I need her input too. You won't change your mind but she will be all wishy washy~"

I laughed at her which rewarded me with her death glare.

"It's true. She'll change her mind at least five times! If you want he house ready soon after the wedding, we need to get started on it ASAP!"

"Yes, Alice. I know! I promise to talk to her when she wakes up."

"Fine!" she flounced off in the direction of her room, presumably to start on the plans for the house.

I turned back to our room and quietly opened the door to find Bella sitting up in our bed, sleepily rubbing her eyes and looking around the room. Her eyes lingered on the cribs before turning on me. They lit up as bright as shiny new pennies and I moved swiftly across the room to her. She leaned into me as our lips met.

"Now that's the way to wake up!" she murmured smiling up at me. We sat for a few minutes enjoying our connection when I decided to bring up the house.

"Bella, what would you think of having our own house?"

She was still for a few minutes, "Where?"

"Right here on our property. It isn't just Esme and Carlisle's land. It belongs to all of us. We all contributed the money to purchase it and build this house. It was somewhere we could hunt in safety."

"So we wouldn't have to move too far away?"

"No, we wouldn't be far away at all. Just far enough to ensure some privacy and the quads would have their own rooms."

She smiled, which was a very good sign, "I like this idea, Edward."

A scream vibrated through the house.

"Alice." I stated the obvious. "She wants to help design our home."

Bella looked puzzled but intrigued at the idea of designing the house. "She has a degree in architecture amongst others. I'm sure we can get a contraction to put in overtime. We could have the house up by the time we have the wedding."

Bella started to actually shake with excitement at the thought, although I wasn't sure if it was because of the wedding or the thought of our own home.

As if sensing the way their mother was feeling, the children started to stir. Our moment of peace was over and our day was beginning.

The days passed in a more or less peaceful way. The quads had settled down as they realized that Renee wasn't going away. Phil closed on a house that Renee picked out fairly quickly and had everything moved within a few weeks. Alice was in heaven from both planning the details of the wedding with our mothers and designed Bella's dream house. They incorporated the few things that I insisted on and by the end of spring, work had begun on our new home.

Bella had managed to graduate high school by taking exams with the rest of her class, even though she had done all the year's work at home. Thankfully no questions were asked. The rest of us muddled through daily classes. I was bored stiff for most of that time without Bella but the theories on why she wasn't able to attend school were actually quite humorous. Some of them were just so ridiculous, from her having a contagious disease to having been in some sort of accident that left her disfigured. The day she arrived with me for exams was the most fun I'd had in a while at school.

And now, for the umpteeth time, we had once again graduated high school. This time however was a lot different for me. I had a fiancee and our children to take care of. My life had changed drastically since I'd met the love of my existence and I wouldn't change a single thing.

**Thanks for reading and reviewing.**

Posted on October 25, 2010 Words: 1485


	57. Epilogue, Chapter 56

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What if there was something different about Bella? What if it meant that Edward & Bella had a more "normal" relationship?

**Happy Reading Everyone!**

**Welcome to all you new readers! It gives me the warm & fuzzies when I see a new Favourite Alert in my inbox! And I greatly appreciated the reviews! You give awesome feedback. **

Chapter 55 – Epilogue

Renee's POV

I stood at the huge bay window looking out at the new manicured lawn, children's play area and garden. I sensed the presence of the other worldly being before she said anything.

"Hard to believe they got it all done before the wedding." I stated the fact. Not really surprised since my daughter and her new husband, father of her 4 children, could get anything done quickly when they set their minds to it. Just look at what had happened in less than a year.

"They did a beautiful job as well." she answered my statement with one of her own.

I glanced over and smiled. "I'm very surprised he talked her into a 2 week honeymoon though. I never thought she would leave the children in our care for so long."

She laughs. "It was a shock to me as well. Carlisle is beside himself. He isn't sure if his scientific curiosity can be suppressed enough to just enjoy the time we have with them or not. He promised Bella, however. No tests or anything of the sort while they're away.

I laugh with her. Her husband was a beautiful man, er vampire in this case.

I was still having a hard time believing that I was once again in Forks, Washington. I'd run from it like the hounds of hell were on my tail so many years ago. My worst fear at the time ended up coming true despite having torn my family apart in the worst possible way.

Thankfully, Charlie had gone on with his life and hadn't morbidly mourned the end of our marriage. Completely my fault and I would never stop feeling guilty about what I did. The end result was that Bella changed anyway and now was married to Edward and had 4 beautiful children with him. Children that had supernatural abilities as well.

I knew what to expect when Bella started changing but I didn't know it would also lead to knowing the vampire community in my old town. To say it was beyond strange to know that there were shape-shifters, vampires and god only knows what else out there. Was there really a Sasquatch? Loch Ness monster? Ogopogo? I involuntarily shivered and sighed. Amazing how life can throw you a curve ball when you least expect it.

I couldn't say that I wasn't happy that my daughter found her one true love. She deserved it and more. I was only glad that I'd been able to give her a normal childhood up until the point where she had to come back to Forks. It had been the main reason for leaving in the first place.

Esme and I stood staring quietly out the window for the next few minutes until a noise behind us made us turn in unison. Running into the room were the 4 whirlwinds also known as our grandchildren with their uncles right behind them. Amazing that they were walking so soon but given their lineage, I couldn't be all that surprised.

The 4 of them ran behind us, laughing and screaming in delight, We looked at Emmett and Jasper questioningly.

"What's going on you two?"

They both laughed and peaked around us at the children.

"Aw. We were just playing with the kids." Although Emmett was a massive being, he was an extremely gentle person. Especially with his neices and nephews and they adored him in return. Jasper was the quiet one of the family. Introspective and calm, it was unusual to see him running around the house but the children seemed to bring out unusual behaviour in many of us..

"Are you sure they aren't influencing you just a little?" I asked, thinking back on their manipulations of a few months ago. The only thing I was grateful for about that time was that Phil wasn't around to witness my behaviour. Being unable to control one's self was not an especially comfortable feeling.

The boys laughed nervously, then looked back down at the children. They hadn't thought of that. Something to add to the growing list of what we would have to discuss with Bella and Edward once they were home.

For the first time in a long time, I was happy. Not just content but really and truly happy. Phil and I had moved to be closer to Bella after he got offered a lucrative job in Seattle. Since Forks wasn't that far away, Phil offered to commute to work when he had to go in. Happily, they set him up with a home office which meant he didn't have to go in everyday and I saw more of him than I ever did when we lived in Phoenix.

I was looking forward to watching my new grandchildren grow up and spending time with Bella.

Esme's POV

Standing in the living room with Renee, I was glad that things worked out for everyone in the family. It was rough for Bella through the whole unexpected pregnancy after discovering she was actually a shape-shifter and getting involved with Edward. I was so happy that he'd finally found his soul mate like the rest of them had. He'd been with us from the start of Carlisle and my relationship and I had always worried that he'd never find that true connection with another being. I knew when Rose had joined us that Carlisle had hoped that something would transpire between them, but I knew from the start that it wasn't meant to be. There was someone out there perfect for our Edward but we'd have to be patient until she came into his life.

The turn of events of Edward actually finding her and then discovering she was a shape-shifter was beyond amazing. Add to that the four little miracles that came running into the room as they laughed and dodged out of the reach of Emmett and Jasper. I laughed softly as they ran behind Renee and I. I didn't know I could love someone more than I did Carlisle and our made up family until they came into our lives. Along with their mother and her family, they made ours that much more complete.

As far as I was concerned, our existence couldn't get much more perfect than it was right now.

Bella's POV

The last few months had been anything but relaxing. Between the children, building the house and planning the wedding, I was more than exhausted by the time the ceremony was over and we were on the way to the airport that night to head to Esme's Island to begin our 2 week honeymoon. The plane ride was long but the bedroom at the back of the plane more than made up for it. I slept most of the flight, catching up with all that I'd missed in the last week or so.

I didn't know what else Edward had planned but I was pretty sure I was going to enjoy it as long as I could stop constantly thinking of the quads. I missed them so much. It was like a huge part of me was missing. I knew that they were perfectly safe at home with our parents and the rest of the family. The pack, especially Jacob and Leah, were acting like babysitters as well when the rest of the family had to go and hunt. My parents were pitching in but the back up of our supernatural half of the family was a bit of a must given the kids unique ability. At least, the one that we'd discovered so far. I just hoped they didn't get into too much trouble while we were gone.

I stood looking out the window of the living room of the so called cabin on the island admiring the sunrise over the water when I felt arms encircle my waist and lips caress the back of my neck. I sighed leaning my head back to rest on his shoulder. How did I get so damn lucky? To have Edward and our children as well as a loving and extended family was something I never dreamed possible. Even though I knew I was young by society's standards, my life was everything I could ever want. I didn't know if the pregnancy was a fluke or if we could have more children in the future but if not, I would be very happy with what we had.

As the last remnants of darkness faded away with the rising sun, I turned around to kiss the only man I would ever love.

**Thanks for reading and reviewing. I hope you enjoyed the story. I will be doing a little editing over the next week or so to fix a couple of errors in earlier chapters but that does It for this one. It was my first attempt at fan fiction and quite the learning experience. I greatly appreciated all the feedback you gave me. Thanks again!**

Posted on October 26, 2010 Words: 1562


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